Images
Collaborative Project
Blake Bridgewater
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What holds particular significance for you in/about Neilsen Park country and Bottle and Glass Point?
Seymour is particularly drawn to seaweed, a vital component in marine systems that provides food and habitat for diverse aquatic life. Seaweed aquaculture further positions itself as a potential aid in the climate crisis, holding uses as food, biofuels and fertilisers. It is important to recognise that First Nations have a deep and diverse traditional knowledge of Australian natural resources, including seaweed. Through Seymour’s research for the Rockpools project, she considers sustainable and ethical methods of ‘extracting’ seaweed as a material for artistic purposes.
Background
Blake is an artist living and working on Gadigal land. His practice looks at the connections between geological, ecological, and human systems within sites shaped by extraction and ecological transformation. Using architectural and geotechnical tools, 3D LiDAR scanning, and digital fabrication, Blake reconfigures data from landscapes such as tidal pools, quarries, and open-cut mines into installations and digital simulations.
His work investigates how tools designed for surveying and engineering can be used to trace the physical and temporal shifts that occur in these altered terrains. By translating technical datasets into spatial and material forms, he reflects on how environments are recorded and remediated through industrial and environmental processes. Through this process, Blake’s work considers forms of speculative remediation using digital and spatial reconstruction to imagine how damaged landscapes might be understood beyond extraction.
How do you create spaces for contemporary leadership, learning and collaboration with other people and the environment?
My work and leadership evolves tentatively but with focus. When people come together to discuss and learn, an approach that relies on openness, honesty, respect and dedication is required. I try to uphold this in all my movements as artist, collaborator, student and teacher.
We live and work on Bidjigal, Birrabirragal and Gadigal Country. We honour the ongoing cultural and ecological relationships First Nations Australians hold with Country, waters and skies and acknowledge their continued custodianship.
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