Visual Quest

Investigating and magnifying the natural world through a range of artistic mediums, Jasmine Targett makes tangible the blind spots, the voids and the mystical gaps concealed beneath the abstract layers of the universe. Her portfolio attempts to solidify the connection between object and observer. The inventive creator frequently collaborates with environmental data organisations and scientists, cementing her work within a milieu of topical conservational discussion.

Currently residing in Melbourne, yet raised in New York, the practitioner stresses the importance of learning how climate science has changed the way nature is perceived and understood. By reinterpreting traditional materials through innovative technologies, her collection breaches the ‘mystified incomprehension that science alone cannot cure’ – a hole in human understanding the 19th century philosopher Francis Bacon eluded to and a gap Targett attempts to diminish.

Longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2015, her installation What the eyes do not see demonstrates how acuity challenges the way individuals understand the world. Two telescopes are fused with a hand-blown glass component, uniting them inseparably and alleviating the empty space between them. The work highlights that by thinking about observation we are able to alter what we see. Drawing attention to the subjective nature of perception, the work also highlights the ability of art and science to expand the gaze and destroy the blind spots.

Since her participation in the Aesthetica Art Prize, Targett has continued to impact the art world. Her intricately crafted installation Blind Spot charts the discovery of the ozone hole and the subsequent tipping point of ecological awareness. By observing nature filtered through imagery from NASA’s Earth Observing Satellite Data Centre the Ozone hole could be mapped to human scale.

This May, the Australian artist’s work is exhibited at Art + Climate = Change Festival in Melbourne – an event committed to harnessing the creative energy of the arts to inspire action on climate change. The featured: My Nike Will Live Longer Than Me analyses the impact of consumerism on the natural world. Artificial longevity is indicated, yet the quartz crystals piercing the shoe’s surface suggests the climate’s power to recover the environment from humanity.

The Nike sits upon a dichroic-lens – sourced from NASA space technology – which changes colour depending upon the angle of perception. Also on display is Noctilucent Canary, a series probing the edges of vision. Telemetry, data and images of Noctilucent phenomena are filtered through a series of prisms and lens to examine the transitory process through which super-ecological phenomena are visible.

Offering a techno-romantic glimpse into existence, Targett’s pioneering technical explorations unite the biospheres of art and science. The installations provoke a response in regard to the changing earth and aim to incite new perspectives, as well as discover new sources of vision.

The 11th Aesthetica Art Prize is Now Open for Entries. Submit here: www.aestheticamagazine.com/art-prize

For more information on Targett’s work see her website.

Art + Climate = Change Festival, 19 April – 14 May, Melbourne, Australia. For more information, visit www.climarte.org

Credits
1. Jasmine Targett, What the eyes do not see, 2014