Helen Philipp

“Afterburn” is a series of works about regeneration, which respond to the destruction, loss and chaos that characterized the past few years; pandemic, war, fire, flood and my own broken bones, (the result of a collision with a large dog). Both in the natural world and in our own lived experience, turmoil and loss are devastating. Yet, if endured, they can be the source of remarkable change and regeneration.

Just before the onset of Covid I stumbled upon a forest of Australian native Xanthorrehoea at the Victorian-South Australian border. They were in full flower and stretched as far as the eye could see. The image of these remarkable grass trees, which flower in response to extreme stress (often fire) became a metaphor for exploring the possibility of new growth and transformation in the wake of trauma.

The act of weaving these forms has been an integral part of creating my own order in times when order was elusive.

Helen’s work draws on the colours and circular forms of the natural world, using photographs of plankton, fungus and lichen as a reference for creating sculptural forms. Underpinning this is Helen’s exploration of the relationship between form, materiality, and colour in the discipline of weaving. Helen lives and works in St Kilda, in a 3 year residency at The City of Port Phillip’s Shakespeare Grove Artist Studios.

Helen was a prize winner at the Victorian Contemporary Sculpture Association and a finalist at the Yering Station Sculpture Prize in 2022 and 2023. She was also a finalist in The Deakin Small Sculpture Prize 2022 and the Wyndham Art prize 2023.

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