Grass is Greener

The adage ‘the grass is always greener on the other side’ became the perfect theme for a joint exhibition Grass is Greener with Radka Passianova at gaffa in 2018. 

Both Radka, a European who lives in Australia, and Doris, an Australian who craves being in Europe, interpreted this shared theme to develop and produce several small series of jewellery and objects.

Artist Statement

The Germans have a noun – das Fernweh - to express a longing to be somewhere else, somewhere distant. 

For me, the lure of greener grass is always there. Perhaps it has something to do with a European upbringing in Australia, or with being equally comfortable applying creativity, as I am with applying logic.

The options are often so vast, they can be paralysing. Remain constant, or change? Stay, or move? Consider options, and their pros and cons endlessly, or make an impulsive decision? 

My work is grounded in these choices and decision points; the consequences and the opportunity costs.

The forms – uncomplicated combinations of lines and circles – were initially inspired by the imagery of water falling on either side of a watershed. Throughout the making process, these became a type of language, like binary code, with the potential to present infinite different stories, depending on decisions about their arrangement and variation.

Design Development

Choice and Consequence

Choice and Consequence represent the relationship between making a decision based on competing options, and adjusting to the outcomes of that decision. They depict the knock-on effect of one decision potentially resulting in unexpected paths.

The starting point was a deliberate decision to cut circular forms from silver to make one group of pieces (Choice). The silver off-cuts from Choice were melted down and then further shaped, to be incorporated into some wall pieces (Consequence).

Every Day and Some Day

These pieces explore a resignation to recurring obligations (Every Day) versus escaping to experience more fulfilling activities (Some Day).

The Every Day chains are intended to convey endlessness. They are deliberately flat, scarred by repetition and leash-like.

In contrast, Some Day is more open, whimsical and wing-like. Inspired by the foliage of a European Larch, it depicts an ideal ‘elsewhere’ and the promise of change in progress, or things yet to come.