Medicinal Plant Cycles images are created by the biochrome process based on fusion of organic and photographic materials.
Bio
Renata Buziak is a Brisbane based photo-media artist, researcher and educator. Her interdisciplinary art practice includes intercultural and art-science research, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. Renata is passionate about physically engaging nature and organic processes in her art practice, which builds on botanical illustration and historical photographic processes. She creates images by a process based on fusion of organic and photographic materials, the ‘biochrome’.
Renata's work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, nationally and internationally (including PICA in Perth, Red Gallery in Melbourne POP Gallery in Brisbane, Photo LA and Ars Polonia Biennale in Poland), received a number of art awards, and features in private and public collections, including: Griffith University; University of Queensland; Gadens Lawyers, Redland Art Gallery Cleveland; Queensland Centre for Photography (QCP); National Museum in Wroclaw Poland. Renata’s artistic residencies comprise of Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, TreeLine on the Sunshine Coast, Lines in the Sand Festivals on North Stradbroke Island, Wilsons Downfall NSW, and Bilpin international ground for Creative initiatives (BigCi) in the Blue Mountains NSW.
In 2010 Renata’s bilingual monogram Afterimage was launched by the QCP (in Polish and English). In July 2014 her research paper was published in the Griffith University Studio Research Journal #2, and in 2016 a book chapter in Brisbane Diseased, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group and Boolarong Press.
Currently Renata teaches at QCA and QUT; and facilitates workshops for children and adults at galleries, primary and high schools.
Exhibition statement
The work in this exhibition Medicinal Plant Cycles draws on natural science, and extensive consultations and discussions with members of the Quandamooka community of Minjerribah / North Stradbroke Island.
Presented images of medicinal plants are based on the fusion of organic and photographic materials in a process of decomposition that I name the biochrome. Biochromes are generated by arranging plant samples on photographic emulsions, and allowing them to transform through the bacterial micro‐organic activities that are part of cyclic decay and regeneration. This process of developing images through decomposition led me to work with time‐lapse photography, which allows recording the blossoming and movement of fungi and microbes.
Audio recordings, accompanying the videos, are excerpts from recorded dialogues with several Quandamooka People, and I acknowledge with deep appreciation their willingness to participate. The title of this exhibition refers to plant cycles, cycles of decay and renewal, the cycle of passing on knowledge, the cycle of time, seasons, and the constant flux of natural processes.
Through this exhibition, I hope to reveal a beauty in decomposition,
and raise notions of transformative cycles. This focus on Minjerribah’s medicinal
plants aims to promote the recognition, appreciation, and value of local medicinal
plants in the context of Aboriginal knowledge and natural science.
Renata will be hosting an artist talk
Saturday the 18th of March
1 - 2 pm
Gallery 3
During her talk Renata will discuss her research project,
including the biochrome process, selections of flora, field trips and
consultations with the Quandamooka People on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke
island.
Her exhibition is also featured on ABC Gardening Australia:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s4501916.htm
Bio
Renata Buziak is a Brisbane based photo-media artist, researcher and educator. Her interdisciplinary art practice includes intercultural and art-science research, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. Renata is passionate about physically engaging nature and organic processes in her art practice, which builds on botanical illustration and historical photographic processes. She creates images by a process based on fusion of organic and photographic materials, the ‘biochrome’.
Renata's work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, nationally and internationally (including PICA in Perth, Red Gallery in Melbourne POP Gallery in Brisbane, Photo LA and Ars Polonia Biennale in Poland), received a number of art awards, and features in private and public collections, including: Griffith University; University of Queensland; Gadens Lawyers, Redland Art Gallery Cleveland; Queensland Centre for Photography (QCP); National Museum in Wroclaw Poland. Renata’s artistic residencies comprise of Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens, TreeLine on the Sunshine Coast, Lines in the Sand Festivals on North Stradbroke Island, Wilsons Downfall NSW, and Bilpin international ground for Creative initiatives (BigCi) in the Blue Mountains NSW.
In 2010 Renata’s bilingual monogram Afterimage was launched by the QCP (in Polish and English). In July 2014 her research paper was published in the Griffith University Studio Research Journal #2, and in 2016 a book chapter in Brisbane Diseased, Brisbane: Brisbane History Group and Boolarong Press.
Currently Renata teaches at QCA and QUT; and facilitates workshops for children and adults at galleries, primary and high schools.
Exhibition statement
The work in this exhibition Medicinal Plant Cycles draws on natural science, and extensive consultations and discussions with members of the Quandamooka community of Minjerribah / North Stradbroke Island.
Presented images of medicinal plants are based on the fusion of organic and photographic materials in a process of decomposition that I name the biochrome. Biochromes are generated by arranging plant samples on photographic emulsions, and allowing them to transform through the bacterial micro‐organic activities that are part of cyclic decay and regeneration. This process of developing images through decomposition led me to work with time‐lapse photography, which allows recording the blossoming and movement of fungi and microbes.
Audio recordings, accompanying the videos, are excerpts from recorded dialogues with several Quandamooka People, and I acknowledge with deep appreciation their willingness to participate. The title of this exhibition refers to plant cycles, cycles of decay and renewal, the cycle of passing on knowledge, the cycle of time, seasons, and the constant flux of natural processes.
Through this exhibition, I hope to reveal a beauty in decomposition,
and raise notions of transformative cycles. This focus on Minjerribah’s medicinal
plants aims to promote the recognition, appreciation, and value of local medicinal
plants in the context of Aboriginal knowledge and natural science.
Renata will be hosting an artist talk
Saturday the 18th of March
1 - 2 pm
Gallery 3
During her talk Renata will discuss her research project,
including the biochrome process, selections of flora, field trips and
consultations with the Quandamooka People on Minjerribah/North Stradbroke
island.
Her exhibition is also featured on ABC Gardening Australia:
http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s4501916.htm
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