Spring 1883, Melbourne, AU, 2018

The Project Room – Room 130

In Bloom, curated by Madé Spencer-Castle and Jeremy Eaton

In Bloom is a Baroque installation of floral themed artworks and bespoke flower arrangements created by Cecilia Fox, creating a sumptuous and excessive display that considers contemporary approaches to the genre of still life and everything floral in art. In Bloom plays cheekily on the metaphor of the ‘blossoming’ emerging artist, SPRING1883 and the décor of the Windsor Hotel. Arranging early career and established artists together within the same bouquet, In Bloom engages with one of the most ubiquitous symbols that permeates art, design, architecture and daily life—the flower; to consider its various contemporary (in)carnations.

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Heidi Holmes

(I’m pretty sure) There will be no Science Baby (Soap)

2018

Rotten flower fragrance oil, goats milk soap, crushed hydrangea petals, 9 failed attempts at In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), Various sizes. Maximum, W 3cm x H 5cm

And

I am infertile (fake terrazzo)

2018

Ceramic tile, dye-sublimation print, 9 failed attempts at In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Each tile W 15.5cm x H 15.5cm x D 0.65cm

Heidi Holmes

I am infertile (fake terrazzo)

2017

Diffuser, fragrance oil, ceramic tiles, dye-sublimation print, calcium carbonate, titanium dioxide, crystalline silica, LED shop-lights, the distance between the artists’ vagina and the earth, nine unsuccessful In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatments.

Dimensions variable

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Abundant in my new home, The Mission in San Francisco, terrazzo is a composite technique that traditionally involves embedding marble chips in a bonding material, grinding the surface to reveal a marble-like finish. It has a beautiful finish, though it is the imitator (the runner up) to naturally occurring and considerably more coveted, marble.

I am also an imitator, the second place getter. I have been undertaking In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment. I have stopped. I will most certainly never be a mother by my own womb. I am terrazzo, the second place getter.

From the exhibition, INTRODUCTIONS 2017, Root Division, San Francisco, USA, September 2017

Notes:

·      The tiles were printed with a photographic image of a flower petal collage.

·      The background colour on the tiles is matched to the colour of my skin.

·      The length of the installation was determined by the location of the bathroom doors on the opposite wall.

·      A rotten flower scent emanated from diffusers in the bathrooms.

·      The height at which the installation sits above the ground is also the same height at which the artist’s vagina sits from the ground.

·      The middle nine rows of tiles were grouted to reflect the nine attempts at IVF.

·      The lighting above the work was changed from spot lighting to fluorescent lighting to reflect that of the bathroom.