Fractal Spirals in a domestic Universe is an ephemeral sculptural installation piece consisting of the arrangement of hundreds of Western domestic household items and their cleaning counterparts, directly on to a outdoor earth surface in two interconnected spiral patterns. 

Colonial setters to Central Australia have imported an enormous infrastructure of stuff to maintain a certain domestic lifestyle in a desert environment wherein once life had a simplicity without waste and was lived close to the earth and nature. By placing these European domestic items directly on the earth the artist is emphasising the cultural contrasts between settler-colonial and traditional First Nations peoples' way of living in this environment. This work seeks to emphasis the interconnectedness of two seemingly disparate worlds by arranging the man-made items in golden spiral patterns from nature.

The marvellous spiral occurs everywhere in nature from sea shells, snow flakes and flowers to hurricane weather patterns and spiral stars clusters, to name a few. These never-ending patterns can also be found in our domestic lives; simple patterns and processes, repeated and expanded, scaling up to sophisticated systems found in contemporary society. There are complex patterns of order to be found in a seemingly chaotic world.

Fractal Spirals In A Domestic Universe connects our ecosystems and our social and cultural systems through patterns of nature. 

Franca Barraclough has been a practicing artist in Mparntwe/Alice Springs for fifteen years and is regarded as a prominent and valuable artist in the arts community. She always seeks to carry out her projects with the most care and respect to the environment and people she works with. This project has been undertaken with the same consideration and sensitivity, developed in consultation with Traditional Owners of Mparntwe and the surrounding region. Official permission has been granted for the project to take place at the Ilparpa claypans site by Lhere Artepe and the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority, amongst other prominent individuals within the community.

View full media release

As part of the 2018 WTS Program