Materials: hand-made papers, card, paper covered rope

Technique: papermaking, calligraphy, collage

Size: 230 x 25 x 11 cm

Description: Each step of the ladder highlights one crucial ingredient necessary for a balanced and satisfying life. Accompanying inspirational words add gravitas and validation. Each unique rung of natural-fibre paper (made by the artist) is made from a different species of plant, representing the diversity of qualities needed to negotiate our relationships and interactions with others.

Together these tiers combine to create a blueprint for successfully navigating the pitfalls of life, thus unleashing our full potential and making our lives extraordinary.

The word ‘LIFE’ is wrapped randomly around the rope, symbolising the unplanned and unexpected twists and turns that happen along life’s journey.

The supporting mechanisms of our lives may sometimes bend and buckle and the steps, as we age, aren’t always flat and even. Yet, despite these irregularities and meanderings, we must try to focus on the important motivating factors as we progressively ascend life’s ladder to reach personal fulfilment.

ORIGINALITY / CREATIVITY; TRUTH / HONESTY; IMAGINATION / DREAMS; FRIENDSHIP; COURAGE / RISK TAKING; OPTIMISM / SELF BELIEF; TOLERANCE / COMPASSION; LOVE; RELAXATION / MEDITATION; PERSEVERANCE / HARD WORK; HAPPINESS / ENJOYMENT; MEMORY / REFLECTION; LEARNING / EXPERIMENTATION

Exhibited in “Sculptural Books” in Smith Street Gallery, Victoria in 2011.

Printed in  “Sculptural and Artist Books” published by IAPMA in 2011.

Exhibited in “Berbagi” at University of the Sunshine Coast Gallery in 2012.

Displayed in my “The Language of Nature I” solo exhibition at Richard Randall Studio in 2012.

(read more information about this in my Residency Blog).