010 – Unfolded Engine
Commission for Reed Smith (2026)

Using the organic shapes of Banksia seeds and burr elm, the grotesque is explored through the use of their natural orifices and prickly textures, abstracting them through religious imagery. Saint Lucy is a Sicilian saint commonly depicted carrying her eyes, removed as punishment, on a platter; they’re detached from the body that once held them and are rendered as almost being an entity on its own. The orifices from the natural materials allude to the uncanny feeling of isolated eyes; this feeling is then abstracted into a burnished earthenware pot and a series of stoneware "eyes”, which serve as decorative inserts on the Elm candleholder.