Puzzling new art installation opens at Nelson Provincial Museum
Image: Sue Heydon, old man’s beard seed forms. Photography by Braden Fastier
An art installation, opening this week at the Nelson Provincial Museum, presents a puzzling new angle on what many regard as one of the most damaging decisions ever made for New Zealand’s native flora and fauna.
Enigma, created by local artist Sue Heydon, consists of a collection of around 20 giant ‘seed forms’ intricately hand-woven from the vine of old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba). Today well known in New Zealand as a highly invasive and ecologically damaging weed, the plant was purposefully introduced here in the 1920s as an ornamental garden favourite. Responding well to the country’s hospitable climate, old man’s beard rapidly grew out of control. Today it has smothered thousands of hectares of native bush across New Zealand, costing millions of dollars in the attempt to contain and eradicate it.
Heydon’s installation acknowledges old man’s beard as an alien and destructive plant in Whakatū, but also makes its case as a useful fibre, begging the question “Can it be both?”. It’s a puzzle she has been working through ever since her literal ‘run in’ with the plant three years ago.
“I was riding my mountain bike up in the hills around Nelson, admiring the view, when I was suddenly – quite ruthlessly – yanked out of my seat by a dangling vine,” explains Heydon. “It certainly drew my attention!”
Seeing an opportunity for an easy-to-source and extremely strong fibre, the self-declared ‘compulsive maker’ quickly became obsessed with the vine, researching it from home and gathering it up in armfuls whenever she was out. “Old man’s beard is a weed here in New Zealand but it’s not viewed that way everywhere – in fact it’s rather useful,” she admits. “As far back as prehistoric times it was used for ropes, binding and basket-making, and today it forms the basis for some common natural remedies. It raises the question, how can we put this weed to use today?”
Heydon’s seed forms have been created using traditional weaving techniques – albeit adapted somewhat to suit their unconventional frames. Every piece of vine has been sourced, heated, hung, twined and woven by hand. The resulting forms, she feels, are a demonstration of the power of old man’s beard. “You can barely see the seed of the plant with the naked eye, however it has this ability to take over whole forests.” Reimagined to an extraordinary scale, the seed forms dominate the gallery space as it does our environment.
“Old man’s beard is sadly a dominant feature in much of our native bush, but it is tragically just one of many species purposefully introduced which have gone on to cause nationwide devastation”, says Lucinda Blackley-Jimson, CEO of the Nelson Provincial Museum. Possums, rabbits, gorse and wild ginger, to name just a few, were among species brought to New Zealand by settlers or later imported by gardeners. While done with the best intentions at the time, these actions have had a disastrous impact on our vulnerable native plant and animal species. “Enigma reflects on the mistakes of our past, while also evoking the sentiment behind them.”
“I’m so grateful to the many people who have helped me to tease out this puzzle” says Heydon. “It comes with a sense of regret, which many will feel deeply, but there’s also a beauty in this plant – that’s why it was brought here in the first place! Hopefully I’ve managed to capture that too.”
Enigma will be on display at Nelson Provincial Museum from Friday, 14 August, until October 2020.