Sick Rose
Testing Grounds


Sick Rose is a 44-channel moving image installation for Testing Grounds, Melbourne, that sees an army of bull ants swarm the ground floor amongst bovine hearts and rose petals. Inspired by William Blake’s The Sick Rose—described as one of the most enigmatic poems in the English language—this exhibition screens a suite of video artworks that consider thorny perceptions of lifecycles, ecosystems, adaptation, death and dying through the guise of insects.


February 2024

Documentation: Chloe Elizabeth