Rae Saheli

Elysian Blooms 2024

Recycled aluminium and copper, recycled shotgun shells, and brass casings
150 x 500 x 500 cm

About the Work

Rae Saheli’s installation Elysian Blooms is a large-scale sculpture featuring three ethereal flowers created from recycled materials, including spent shotgun shells, brass casings, shot aluminium, and copper. The artist’s distinctive art-making technique involves using a 12-gauge shotgun. That’s right, Rae shoots her work! She creates dynamic textures symbolising creation and transformation while minimising environmental impact. During the day, sunlight passes through the perforated petals, casting intricate shadows, while at night, solar-powered coloured lighting illuminates the flowers.

Rae hopes her work inspires others to consider their own environmental footprint, embrace more sustainable art practices, and reflect on the transient nature of life and the importance of leaving no lasting trace.

About the Artist

Rae Saheli is an artist living and working on Bundjalung Country; she is a longtime resident of the Gold Coast.

Rae completed an Advanced Diploma in Visual Arts at TAFE, NSW, in 2020, and is currently employed as a Technical Assistant in the Visual Arts department.

No longer interested in using paint to render the world in expressive or colourful ways, Rae uniquely uses a 12-gauge shotgun as her mark-making tool of choice. Drawing on over 20 years’ experience as a clay target shooter, her process favours chance and chaos over any sense of pictorial order.

Rae’s work has been featured on ABC’s What’s Your Story?, in SWELL Sculpture Festival, Industrial SWELL, the Gallery Downtown annexe of Tweed Regional Art Gallery, Northern Rivers Community Gallery, Brunswick Street Gallery, and the Woolloongabba Art Gallery.

Rae has undertaken Artist in Residence programs at Placemakers (2023) and The Walls Art Space (2020).