Drift
Installation work at Merrywalks, Stroud 1997. Thistledown, electric fan, timer, double sided tape
DRIFT presents the natural phenomenon of wind dispersed thistle seeds with the assistance of an electric fan within the confines of a window display. The thistle has evolved to produce seeds that perform in this particular way and we can marvel at the ingenuity of nature and its processes of dissemination. But in this context the thistledowns ultimate purpose is negated by the the fact of its containment; there is nowhere for the seed to lodge and germinate. We can view an approximation of nature at our leisure but the nature itself is circumvented. It becomes an exercise in futility that raises questions about our relationship to the natural world and how our desire to interact with it can influence the nature of that world.