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The Arts Intel Report

Steve Carr, In Bloom (IndigiGrow)

A detail from Steve Carr’s 2023 work In Bloom (IndigiGrow).

Aug 10 – Oct 2, 2023
140 George St, The Rocks NSW 2000, Australia

The New Zealand-based artist Steve Carr comments on the fraught relationship between nature and industrialization with his living, site-specific sculpture In Bloom (IndigiGrow). Partnering with the Aboriginal-owned social enterprise and native plant nursery IndigiGrow, Carr has curated a selection of endangered scrub species native to the coastal sands of Dharawal, Bidjigal, and Gadigal Country in Sydney. Flowering species like Dillwynia floribunda, as well as edible plants such as Karkalla, take root in and among car tires, doggedly growing even as their planters, suggesting movement and speed, remain frozen. In Bloom sits on the Loti Smorgon Sculpture Terrace, overlooking the Sydney Opera House. —Nyla Gilstrap

Photo: Jessica Maurer; courtesy and © the artist