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 The artist installing Columbus visits the cave of GuadalupeAsia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 2002 Queensland Art Gallery Photograph: Matthew Kassay |
Joan GROUNDS
United States/Australia b.1939
Joan Grounds arrived in Australia from North America in 1969. Like many Australian artists of her generation, Grounds works across a broad range of art forms and materials, including sculpture, installation and film. Feminist philosophies, environmental activism and the notion of collective political responsibility influence her practice, and her works are often collaborative and site-specific. Since the mid 1980s, Grounds has employed a repertoire of objects and materials with metaphoric potential, creating rich allusions and associations of meaning in her works.
More information about the artist
 Joan Grounds Columbus visits the cave of Guadalupe 1995 Saa paper, cast bronze axe, monk’s string, gold ring, stringy-bark tree and eucalyptus log Dimensions variable Collection: The artist Photograph: Pacchi Dang |
Columbus visits the cave of Guadalupe 1995 is drawn from the Mexican myth of the Virgin of Guadalupe. This powerful female figure is a fusion of elements of ancient pre-Columbian mother-goddess cults with the Catholic Virgin Mary. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron protector of the American continent and is traditionally depicted in a cave, which equally represents a refuge, shrine and birth canal.
 Joan Grounds Columbus visits the cave of Guadalupe (detail) 1995 Saa paper, cast bronze axe, monk’s string, gold ring, stringy-bark tree and eucalyptus log Dimensions variable Collection: The artist Photograph: Pacchi Dang |
 Joan Grounds Columbus visits the cave of Guadalupe (detail) 1995 Saa paper, cast bronze axe, monk’s string, gold ring, stringy-bark tree and eucalyptus log Dimensions variable Collection: The artist Photograph: Pacchi Dang |
Each of the individual elements in this installation resonates with potential meanings. A fine thread connects a cast bronze axe to a tiny gold ring, which is set into a large piece of bark that has been stripped from its tree in one piece. The thread suggests a connection between humans and their actions, and joins the potentially threatening and destructive axe to the sacred hollow or ‘cave’ within the bark.
 Joan Grounds Forty-two books with one page 1995 Saa paper, cultured pearls, gold-plated mild steel, carbon, cotton string 42 books: 37 x 30 x 16cm each Collection: The artist Photograph: Matthew Kassay |
 Joan Grounds Forty-two books with one page (detail) 1995 Saa paper, cultured pearls, gold-plated mild steel, carbon, cotton string 42 books: 37 x 30 x 16cm each Collection: The artist Photograph: Matthew Kassay |
Forty-two books with one page 1995 is inspired by Grounds’s work with the Thai Wildlife Fund in the early 1990s. It refers to the forty-two species of birds that were identified as endangered in Thailand at that time. Each book represents the genetic, ecological, historical and symbolic knowledge embodied by each species of bird. The fragile future of these birds is reinforced by Grounds’s choice of media. The books are made from saa paper sheets, handmade in Thailand from mulberry trees, and are held closed with pearl-tipped gold pins.
List of works in APT 2002
Artists and Works
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