Perdita Phillips
We Must Catch Up
Perdita Phillips' interactive installation, We Must Catch Up, explores the common human experience of being too busy to spend enough time with old friends.
Following the conclusion of her residency, Phillips invited the community to scale a 2.4-metre-high mini-mountain with a friend, for a much needed catch up and cup of tea. The mountain is shaped like Bular Mial (Bluff Knoll), as a tribute to the unique ecological communities of the Stirling Range National Park.
The spring equinox is a time of renewal—new life—new light. In October of 2023, Phillips lit a fuse and let the mountain turn into smoke. All that remained was the ladder’s burnt rungs, while the force of the fire had turned the mountain’s black ochre into red oxide. Grass will grow over the site again, but for those who climbed the mountain, Phillips believes we can remember the conversations that we had as a counterpoint to its fiery destruction.
For more information, watch the video.
ARTIST STATEMENT
How’s things? What are you up to now? What’s on your mind at the moment? Would you like to catch up for a chat? On top of a mountain? It’s been soooooooo long since we last talked.
Gallery
Image 1 by Olivia Senior
Images 2-3 & 7-9 by Perdita Phillips
Images 4-6 by Christopher Young
Perdita Phillips
B.
Perdita Phillips is a Western Australian artist whose practice revolves around environmental issues and social change. She has a wide-ranging and experimental conceptual practice that integrates art, science and connection. Phillips’ previous works consist of sound installations using outdoor recordings, collaborations with poets and writers, drawings, prints and environmental events. While materially diverse, underlying themes of ecology and a commitment to re-sensitising people with the physical environment are consistently explored in her work.