vehicles for the unsung

Melissa Macleod presents a sculptural exhibition responding to ecological fragility and coastal environments. The work engages with themes of erosion, invasive species, and environmental vulnerability through careful material choices and labor-intensive processes. Key works include salt crystals colored with water tracing dye from Pacific seawater, rolled blotting paper saturated in seawater presented in glass tubes to capture the rise of ocean levels, and intricate assemblies of pressed flowers and seeds from invasive dune species Gazania and Lupin. Field Study #1 features thousands of Gazania seeds individually glued into stretched gauze. The Fall #3, a suspended work in the back gallery, incorporates sand samples from thirty-six erosion-prone beaches across Aotearoa, constructed from nylon strands coated in glue and beach sand held between aluminium runners. Other works include Earth Binders, specimen boxes containing seven layers of compressed Gazania plants, and For Sieving, which uses roots from drowning pine trees. The exhibition balances precision and vulnerability, reflecting on the fragility of coastal ecosystems through considered material practice.