“Eganu encapsulates the memory of Tate’s Australian childhood - the resilient, robust wildflowers and the emu not only survive but flourish with splendour and beauty.”

 

“The vast timescales of organic and inorganic materials are foregrounded in this monumental chair.

 

The block of river red gum was cut from a 10,000-year-old tree excavated from a quarry. When buried for so long, it is starved of oxygen and saturated with iron and silica; the oxidised material that results is part timber and part fossil. 

 

Often buried deep down for millions of years, organic materials can transform further into organic compounds, including crude oil. Oil, a fossil fuel, is a key ingredient in the polypropylene used to manufacture the ubiquitous, long-lasting plastic chair that Wright has embedded in the Ancient Red Gum.”