29 September 2004

Canberra artist Al Munro takes the title for her current exhibition of prints from a number of scientific projects relating to genetic engineering of plant and animal life she researched when undertaking an Australia Council Studio residency in London last year.

Al Munro with her exhibition, Frozen Garden

Her work uses prints and collage as an analogy for the genetic ‘data set’.

“The printed elements in the work are used in multiples that can be repeated or repositioned via collage to create entirely new forms, similar to breaking a natural organism down to its most basic parts through gene sequencing and then rebuilding another organism from the parts,” Ms Munro said.

Ms Munro combines repeated elements of the one image to create many new images, in a similar way that genetic codes can be repeated or reconfigured to create new species.

While in London she worked in the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew where she came across a project to clone a number of ancient oak trees in order to reproduce certain characteristics in new trees to be used to restore England’s forests.

“This and other projects at Kew reminded me of a garden in ‘deep freeze’ and able to be thawed at any time in the future.”

“I also visited collections at the Natural History Museum, currently the home of the Frozen Ark project which is cataloguing and naming the genetic profiles of a range of animal species.”

The artist acknowledges the support of the Australia Council, the Federal Government’s arts funding and advisory body.

The exhibition will also be shown in Canberra and Sydney next year.