Anthologia is a Greek word that literally means ‘flower gathering’; its English translation, ‘anthology’ denotes a collection of literary works such as poems, short stories or plays. Both definitions are meaningful in considering the work of artists Sarah Rayner and Sophie Carnell.  Over the past two decades both artists have established singular and highly regarded practices, characterised by their close observation of native flora and fidelity to materials. It is perhaps not surprising then that the pair should become friends and collaborators. Yet the artists live and work more than 2,500 km apart, responding to significantly different ecologies through divergent approaches and media. What does it mean therefore to bring their practices together for this exhibition?

The life cycle of plants has been the principal focus of Sarah Rayner’s practice since her first exhibition in 1997. Her ongoing commitment to the subject is evident throughout her oeuvre, from early textile works to more recent ceramic objects and installations. Its most recent iteration is the artist’s ceramic series ‘Flowerbones’, sculptural re-imaginings of the sex organs of native Australian plants, crafted in delicate white porcelain clay. Their forms are based on fallen fruit and seedpods, the byproducts of plant reproduction, that the artist collects on her property near Maleny, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. Ready access to these materials allows Rayner to undertake close and sustained observation, informing the research and development of her objects.

The artist balances her observations of plant specimens with aesthetic and conceptual considerations. Rayner’s objects for example, are significantly larger than the seedpods and flowers they depict in order to emphasise details of their reproductive systems normally imperceptible to the human eye. Some works feature interventions such as a cross section to reveal further aspects of the plant’s fertility. Thanks to the artist’s technical skill and attention to detail, her labour intensive and refined ‘Flowerbones’ present credible fictions that are grounded in reality. The presentation of Rayner’s objects borrows from museological methods of display. Some of her ‘Flowerbones’ are punctuated by entomology pins, which the artist also uses to exhibit examples of the collected seed pods and flowers that inform the making of her ceramic forms.

Sophie Carnell is a jeweller and maker who resides on Bruny Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tasmania. The artist has created a substantial body of discrete and wearable objects over the past fifteen years that explore relationships to history, place and the natural environment. Working predominantly in silver, Carnell often incorporates natural and found materials into her compositions. Her stylistically diverse practice reflects these various materials as well as the artist’s interest in interactions between the man-made and natural worlds.

Carnell spends hours walking the coastal shoreline and surrounds near her home at Barnes Bay on the northern end of Bruny, observing the rich local plant life including various species of Tasmanian orchids. Smaller than their better-known, exotic counterparts, native orchids flower only for brief periods and are easily overlooked, hidden amongst the leaf litter. Carnell draws attention to these plants by producing them in delicate yet robust silver. Like Rayner ‘s ‘Flowerbones’, Carnell’s orchids are larger than the real thing, encouraging viewers to ‘look closer at the plants and consider the unseen’ (1). The artist delineates the root structures and corms of the plant by oxidizing the silver, causing it to blacken; while the above ground parts of the plant, the stem and florets, are polished. Carnell’s orchids have an anthropomorphic quality, appearing to stand or rest on their base; this is reinforced by their depiction of the corms, which resemble the reproductive organs of the male anatomy.

Anthologia is the second outcome of a collaboration that commenced in early 2019. The artists worked together on a series of wearable pieces for Ceramix, an exhibition of interdisciplinary projects by ceramic artists and their peers organised by Australian Ceramics and presented at the Manly Art Gallery & Museum, Sydney (2). These objects amplified bodily associations already present in Carnell’s and Rayner’s work, echoing the curvaceous forms of the fruits and flowers of plants. Displayed in pairs, the small-scale porcelain and silver works established a dialogue between the artists’ chosen materials and created forms. They have continued that dialogue and approach to working together for Anthologia. 

Since Carnell and Rayner first met in 2007 they have visited each other several times to absorb the approaches, techniques and environments that inform the other’s practice. When the artists decided to formally collaborate last year, they had to devise strategies of working together apart well before the current COVID-19 pandemic, due to the considerable distance separating them. They are in regular contact via email and Facetime and send each other documentation of particular species of flora they are interested in. When one artist completes a work, they mail it to the other, for them to observe and respond to. 

For Anthologia these ‘collaborations’ are displayed side-by-side, similarly to the Ceramix project, alongside examples of their individual practices. The collaborative works provide an opportunity for Carnell and Rayner to engage with plant species from the other’s local region; as well as having to consider how their individual responses operate together to articulate the fascinating lifecycle of native plants. 

One such species, Ficus coronata, is predominantly found in southern Queensland, including on Rayner’s property. Its colloquial name, ‘Sandpaper fig’ is derived from the tree’s roughly textured leaves. The coronata produces a fleshy, un-ripened fruit that can only be fertilised by a corresponding species of wasp. The female must push through a small opening in the fruit, losing her wings and antennae in the process, to reach the flowers inside. The wasp then lays her eggs inside the fruit before dying. When they eventually hatch, the wingless male offspring bore their way out, clearing a path for the young female wasps to carry the mature pollen to another tree. Carbon dioxide is subsequently released through the opening made by the male wasps, allowing the fig’s fruit to ripen (2). 

Returning to the dual meanings of Anthologia, this exhibition collects Carnell’s and Rayner’s individual and shared responses to their subject matter. It presents them in such a way as to facilitate an appreciation of their similarities, as well as highlighting how each of their responses is unique. Both artists make work that speaks to the complexity and richness of native flora however they are not faithful representations. Instead, they are subjective interpretations that foreground the precariousness of our finely balanced ecosystem.