Ghost Net Collective

Spiral 2023

Metal rod frame with ghost net and beach found rope

330 x 150 x 150 cm

Not for sale

About the Work

Spiral creates a dichotomy between two silent predators who are leaving a path of destruction through our North Queensland oceans and tropical reefs. They are juxtaposed against the hope represented in the spiral of life.

The first predator is the destructive fishing gear that is frequently discarded and lost in the oceans, drifting and destroying reef life. On those same reefs, another killer crawls, consuming live coral: the Crown of Thorns Starfish (COTS). One of its few natural predators is the Triton Shell. The COTS and the Triton Shell are some of the species that scientists at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) are researching. The Ghost Net Collective were captivated by these animals during a residency at AIMS. With the help of AIMS staff, they developed the idea to produce a work that illustrates the spiral of life through the skeletal shape of the Triton Shell, using the rich palette of colour found in the deadly abandoned ghost net.

About the Artists

The Ghost Net Collective, led by Marion Gaemers and Lynnette Griffiths, is a flexible entity for collaboration. Their work can be culturally selective and cross-cultural as they see the best fit for projects and as opportunities arise. For this project, workshops were conducted, both face to face and virtual, with Erub arts; Townsville and Ingham arts community; Tagai College, Thursday Island; Bentley Park, Cairns; and Bowen State High and Southern Cross, Townsville. Also participating were AIMS employees in Perth, Darwin and Townsville and virtual workshops through MAGNT in Darwin. All these workshops extended the educational reach.

Each opportunity allows The Ghost Net Collective to extend upon their previous installation visions. Their strengths lie in including communities in projects. This project used instructional workshops, videos and work sheets to educate and enable people to produce sections of this work that explores some of the ocean research being undertaken by AIMS.