Inspired by cigarette packets found on the streets of Dunedin and Shanghai, each piece operates as response to both the material object, and the site in which it was found. While the consistency of the form can be easily recognised, each piece draws upon the distinct graphic language of a specific packet, asking the audience to question their familarity and provinance. The reduction of the graphic language brings an ambiguity to their reading; are these legitimate designs or something else? Together the works form an archive; a way of knowing the world in terms both local and global. Furthering the artist’s interest in effects of globalisation, this work encourages a meditation on homogenization of culture on the one hand, and a celebration of plurality on the other.

‘TOPOGRAPHIES’ 1-V1 (2020). Stainless steel and enamel paint.

‘Topographies’ was first shown at Laree Payne Gallery in the exhibition 'Handshake in Hamilton', in July 2020.