Tephra is a delicate shifting of light, sound and material, where the forces of erosion and deep time are combined with the sculptural and the sonic. Tephra is the first solo exhibition by Western Sydney artists and sisters, Natasha Dubler and Caitlin Dubler.
From the basalt-capped peaks of Mount Wilson and Mount Tomah, down to the Colo River, the artists trace the geological processes which continually shape and reshape the landscape. Bringing together their respective backgrounds in glass and music, to explore gestures of listening and touch, Tephra is an experiential and multisensory environment revealing unheard and unseen narratives embedded in these landscapes.
Fragmenting and layering are reflected in the artists’ experimental practice spanning fused glass, concrete, electroformed bronze and sound. Using printmaking techniques such as plating, resisting and masking on hand hammered bronze cymbals, a patina of the subterranean is formed, while the sounds of wind woven with cello evokes a sonic experience of slow erosion over time.
The tension between the artist hand and the naturally occurring are in constant play here, as fragments of sound and material encounters from the earth, are considered anew. Patterned concrete works transpose the Tessellated Pavements at Mount Irvine in the Blue Mountains, emitting sounds of the underground that crack and fracture, while dislocating time and place.
Surface creep of an eternal wind. Tremors from the underground. Rock and glassy particles scatter to form part of the geological strata. Tephra engages audiences of all ages in a multisensory experience, exploring local geologic histories on a molecular scale.
Natasha Dubler is a multidisciplinary artist working across sound installation, music performance and sculpture. Her work looks at how resonance as a material phenomenon can mould and shape landscape at or below the Earth’s surface, and how memories of these subtle shifts are etched into the material histories of a site.
Caitlin Dubler is a trained silversmith and glass artist exploring material histories through craft processes. She looks to the molecular and chemical composition of materials and their expressions of colour and texture. Within the heat of the kiln, volcanic temperatures shift and rearrange molecules, creating intimate encounters with the metallurgical.
