'Controlled Burn (Canberra, Adelaide, Alice Springs)' uses burnt matchsticks to mark the maximum daily temperatures for the summer months over the previous six leap years in Canberra, Alice Springs and Adelaide.
Exploring how standard forms of measurement are recalibrated to adapt to climate change, the matchsticks slowly progress closer to breaking point as our summer months become hotter. The work contrasts daily detail to yearly trends, aligning single days within the cumulative effect of rising temperatures on drought, increased bushfire risk, and loss of trees and habitat. The title, method, and symbolism expresses climate change as something that humans have control over but continue to ignore.
Controlled Burn (Canberra, Adelaide, Alice Springs: leap years since 1999), 2020, burnt matches and pencil on paper, 59.5 x 42cm each. Installation view, ANU School of Art & Design in Degrees of Concern, 2022. Photograph: Brenton McGeachie.
Controlled Burn (Canberra, Adelaide, Alice Springs: leap years since 1999), 2020, burnt matches and pencil on paper, 59.5 x 42cm each. Installation view, Watch this Space, Alice Springs, 2021.
Heat Map, work by Bernadette Klavins (foreground and left) and Anna Madeleine Raupach (right), curated by Saskia Scott. Installation view, Watch This Space, Alice Springs, 2021.