LOUISE FRANCES SMITH
2023
wireweed bioplastic, cotton scrim, cotton thread.
Part 1 - 102 x 47 x 16cm
Part 2 - 86 x 64 x 16cm
 
This piece from the series ‘Sargassum Tide’ features works made using wireweed seaweed (Sargassum muticum) and Pacific oysters (Magallana gigas), two non-native’ species currently thriving on the UK coastlines due to
climate change. Louise has collected these materials from her local coastline to create a new body of experimental work that shows the repercussions of human intervention on our fragile coastal
ecosystems. The inspiration for the works comes from epibiosis – the close interaction between two different organisms, the host organism providing an environment for the other which is attached
to its living surface. Playing with scale, the organic body-like forms appear to be engulfing the space - posing the question of what the repercussions of human intervention is on our fragile coastal
ecosystems.
 
www.louisefrancessmith.co.uk
Photo credit: Yeshen Venema