BLUE MANGROVE

Blue Mangrove Motif is a large scale watery botanical composition.  It is the first artwork that I created specifically for printing on cloth back in 2013.   I made this oceanic seascape from layering many digital images of miniature mangroves taken at high resolution when wading in the shallows of a teal low tide. While the final image was rendered by a contemporary high-end digital printing system, the composition and periwinkle palette pay homage to a history of seafarer trading that carried the original indigo cloths and cobalt Chinoiseries ceramic of 16 and 17 centuries between faraway lands. Blue Mangrove Motif links the Australian aquatic landscape to the threads and weavings of global trade histories hoping to highlight the commingling of cross-cultural connections operating from within the traditional and contemporary.