• Lament for the Anthropocene

Adopting a multidisciplinary and symbolic approach to critique the socio-cultural and environmental challenges of contemporary society, the artists reflect on the profound cultural and environmental shifts characteristic of the Anthropocene — a term signifying the current geological age shaped predominantly by human activity. Through drawing from the long standing intertwined history of fibre work and technology, the installation seeks to preserve and celebrate the analog methods of creating ‘slow art’ as a counterpoint to the accelerating pace of technological advancement and its implications on human identity, as the pursuit of efficiency is prioritised over the wellbeing of people.

The work extends into research and text based practices, embodying a radical act of protest against institutional and societal norms that value speed over critical reflection and community, serving as both a tribute to traditional craftsmanship and a reflection of the artists' sentiments. Through the work, the artists hope to evoke critical dialogue on sustainability, community, and the often-overlooked histories and processes behind technology and art-making.

Lament for the Anthropocene takes on an analogue approach, intentionally withholding the use of any live and powered technology. Using a collection of dead electronics donated from friends and family, the main tapestry is entirely handmade and crocheted by the artists using up-cycled electrical wire that is stripped and separated into strands for use. Crochet was chosen instead of other fibre art techniques such as knitting due to it being a skill that has yet to be successfully automated and replicated by machines. The text that was written and carefully crafted by the artists was then converted into a pattern chart. It uses the filet crochet technique to create filled and empty grids that results in the shapes of the letters, drawing reference from binary systems and by extension becomes an alternative way of 'programming' a work into existence. It reads:

This body of text was written by living minds.
This body of work is created by living bodies.

In an institution that upholds itself
on progress and opportunity
At the expense of its own body
The system will eat itself alive

I cannot change the world
So I start by being true
To what it means to be
a creature here on earth

They say
I will do great things.
That this is the way forward.
And yet the world has no place for me.

To cry and laugh and sing and dance
And go home to my grandmother
Ask her how things have changed.
Can she keep up with this? Can you?

The tapestry is a visual record of the human labour put into the work due to the slow and time-consuming process, with each row taking about 45 minutes to an hour to crochet. In total, the tapestry consists of 350 rows and 95 columns, taking over 2 months to complete. The spatial arrangement of the work is meant to elevate a sense of solemnity, with the tapestry barely suspended off the ground like an epitaph and the body of dead electronics arranged on the ground like a grave. Viewers are invited to spend time with the work, by taking time to read and contemplate the words, and going up close to observe the details of the tapestry and the electronics.

Rather than offering solutions, Lament for the Anthropocene poses urgent questions: What values are we upholding as we rush forward? What ways of being and making are we losing? In a time when change feels both inevitable and contested, this work calls for reflection — not to resist change itself, but to rethink what change should serve, and who it should ultimately benefit.