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Synergy
Di Allison
When Russell Bradford showed me a small bottle containing a post-larval
rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii, I was struck by its fragility. This
tiny body appeared to be casting an alabaster shadow. The barely
present outer covering, outgrown and discarded, rested ghost-like
nearby. This period of transition from post-larval to juvenile brings
a time of great vulnerability but eventual strength to the tiny
lobster.
Time releases us from the moments in our lives. Sometimes, far
too slowly, we allow ourselves to let go of our sorrows. A wish,
a love, a certainty, a grief may need to finally leave us.
At these times, at our most fragile, a new resilience may follow.
Patrick Hall
These pieces are inspired by Russell Bradford's work on the "aging"
of fish larvae. In the same way the age of a tree is determined
by counting the "growth rings", the life span of a fish
can be read by the tracks and grooves on the microscopic disc of
its ear bone or otolith. An intriguing notion — a hard copy
of a creature's life encapsulated
in a dot, like nature's black box flight recorder. What tracks
and records our own journeys and stories? Is part of that process
the things we hear, the voices of the ones who love us and the sounds
of our time? Perhaps the metaphor of a gramophone record
links our desire to understand and connect to the world with the
fragile traces left on the ear bone of a fish. These are voices
from the past and snatches of moments from before, now relived in
the present.
Russell Bradford
When studying to be a marine biologist I was taught how otoliths
could be used to age fish, and that the only means for growth in
an animal with an exoskeleton, like a lobster, was to discard that
outer shell and replace it with a larger one. Because of the objective
and methodical approach that science takes to the natural world,
it is all too easy to overlook the emotion and wonder that world
contains.
Patrick Hall and Di Allison have taken two aspects of my work and
without those constraints have been able to interpret my work in
a more humanistic manner. Both of their works, with a wonderful
simplicity, create parallels between a world rarely glimpsed and
our own lives. Through their creative interpretations, Pat and Di
have reawakened my sense of amazement of the natural world.
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