By Jo Stacey
Cape Creative
Press Release
BioBank
BioBank… is a ginormous, futuristic, imaginative, collaborative installation by Jo Stacey in collaboration with Prudence and Stephen Terry. Stacey’s installation consists of a 2.4m cube which is a climatically controlled bio bank. The bank has been built to contain and preserve local butterfly species for future generations. The hand-painted butterflies are stored in a mirrored infinity room. Visitors to BioBank are invited to embrace the spirit of discovery and don lab coats to enter the space to view the last of their species.
BioBank…is the story of butterflies from the Townsville Region and an uncertain future. For local artist Stacey the butterfly is a beautiful species to showcase and an important bioindicator for monitoring the health of our environment. In this artwork the diversity and beauty of butterfly raise our awareness that conservation of the environment needs to be an intrinsic consideration for our modern lifestyle.
This artwork is speculative fiction, with a family creating a huge biobank to save the threatened Townsville butterflies. We travel 1000 years into a futuristic post-apocalyptic world with the survivors of the climate calamities searching for the legendary Biobank. The environmental messages of BioBank are highlighted in essays by Amelia Rankin, an avid Cairns Birdwing butterfly enthusiast and promoter of sensitive urban gardening and Jodi Rummer a bushwalking marine scientist.
Besides the narrative artwork, an important part of the BioBank project is four workshops that involve the community in learning, sustainability and art.
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Barbara Webster for botanical textile dye workshops (an eco-friendly natural dye process);
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Prudence Terry and Jo Stacey facilitating a butterfly painting workshop.
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A Kenyan Beehive making workshop with Nick Smith – NQ Native Bee expert;
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Beeswax wrap making
The 13 species of butterflies represented in BioBank are Cairns Birdwing, Green Spotted Triangle, Ulysses, Red Banded Jezebel, Royal Jewel, Silky Jewel, Monarch, Bordered Rustic, Eichhorn Crow, Orange Plan, Blue Tiger, Yellow Grass and Dingy Brown.
“BioBank” exhibition will be launched at 6pm 1st July and will be open to the public at Murky Waters Studio each Sunday from 9am to 12 for the month of July or by appointment.
The art installation “BioBank” continues the artwork and themes Jo Stacey established with “Kaleidoscope” at Strand Ephemera in 2021. For Kaleidoscope, Stacey facilitated art workshops with 5 secondary schools as part of the Townsville City Council Galleries - Artist-In-Schools program.
Murky Waters Studio, 126 Hanran St, Townsville City, down the laneway between Jaxx Tyres and Simon George.
Contact Jo Stacey
Mob: 0438515099
email jo.stacey@reefecologic.org