The Southern Wilds is a series of large architectural installations utilizing primarily found materials. Each is comprised of a collection of component pieces, each piece unique in terms of its shape but also in its individual history. These collages of disparate materials come together as monumental structures, made sturdy due to the collective properties of all of the pieces working as whole. Traditional woodworking joinery is used in order to construct the architectural framework of each one. Combining arches, domes, columns, A-frames and diagonal bracing, the structures form scaffolding to support large quantities of plastic waste that has been collected from the nearby seaside. Aside from screws, the installations are made exclusively of found materials. In doing so, each one uses materials honestly, adapting them only to be functional within the installations’ designs while simultaneously accentuating the materials’ past lives.
In an anthropogenic world where natural environments contain substantial quantities of “artificial” materials alongside “natural” ones, as well as local materials with those of unknown and possibly distant origins, the works utilize these in conjunction for the purpose of challenging accepted definitions of “natural materials” and “locally sourced”, as notions which has become contemporaneously irrelevant. In reflecting on the origins of the materials used in the works, they also highlight massive quantities of human waste which goes unused and undecaying, an accumulating silent danger threatening the health of humans and non-humans alike – especially that which finds its way to the oceans. However, the colorful repurposed plastics utilized in the works also present hopeful possibilities for unconventional and DIY repurposing. Suspended in each of the installations and gently swaying in the breeze, the repurposed plastics are reminiscent of drying laundry, prayer flags, stained glass, sails, or pixels as they create large colorful planes which fill in the empty spaces between the structural elements of each work while contrasting the natural colors of the structures themselves as well as the surrounding environment.
Additionally, The Southern Wilds embarks on a strategy of creative placemaking in the Nanping Township, attracting attention to typical and unused places in the town. The works themselves can be used as landmarks or points of reference as well as providing potential for interaction with those places by existing as spaces where events such as collective meals or workshops can be held. The works are situated adjacent to former and present aquaculture sites – the town’s former economic engine, presently in decline. Depending on the viewer, these installations can be viewed as purely architecture, as representations of elements existing within the local landscape (a wave, turtle, fish, etc.), as well as giant creatures roaming and exerting their influence upon the landscape.
In an anthropogenic world where natural environments contain substantial quantities of “artificial” materials alongside “natural” ones, as well as local materials with those of unknown and possibly distant origins, the works utilize these in conjunction for the purpose of challenging accepted definitions of “natural materials” and “locally sourced”, as notions which has become contemporaneously irrelevant. In reflecting on the origins of the materials used in the works, they also highlight massive quantities of human waste which goes unused and undecaying, an accumulating silent danger threatening the health of humans and non-humans alike – especially that which finds its way to the oceans. However, the colorful repurposed plastics utilized in the works also present hopeful possibilities for unconventional and DIY repurposing. Suspended in each of the installations and gently swaying in the breeze, the repurposed plastics are reminiscent of drying laundry, prayer flags, stained glass, sails, or pixels as they create large colorful planes which fill in the empty spaces between the structural elements of each work while contrasting the natural colors of the structures themselves as well as the surrounding environment.
Additionally, The Southern Wilds embarks on a strategy of creative placemaking in the Nanping Township, attracting attention to typical and unused places in the town. The works themselves can be used as landmarks or points of reference as well as providing potential for interaction with those places by existing as spaces where events such as collective meals or workshops can be held. The works are situated adjacent to former and present aquaculture sites – the town’s former economic engine, presently in decline. Depending on the viewer, these installations can be viewed as purely architecture, as representations of elements existing within the local landscape (a wave, turtle, fish, etc.), as well as giant creatures roaming and exerting their influence upon the landscape.
The Southern Wilds were commissioned by the town of Nanping and constructed during September of 2020
in Nanping Township in Pingdong, Taiwan.
in Nanping Township in Pingdong, Taiwan.