In Deep

In Deep 2019. plaster, collected rose thorns. Penny Coss and Sylvia Griffin, Gallery 25 , Edith Cowan University, WA.

( Background) Ants, 2021, Video, Acrylic Sheets x 2, Dur 14 minutes. Gallery 25 , Edith Cowan University, WA.

Penny Coss/ Sylvia Griffin, Instruction Plaster and Thorns Collaboration, Video and Plaster, Thorns. 2021, Dimensions Variable

Penny Coss Re-Member, 2019, Dimensions Variable, Welded Steel, Found wood. Charred Remnants, 2021, 75 X 56 cm Charcoal and acrylic on 300gsm Saunders.

Detail Re-Member, 2019 Photo. Rob Frith Photography.

In Deep explores ideas of impermanence, memory and loss with works speaking to notions of deep time, as suggested in the materiality of marble, charcoal and pigments, and the emotional impact of swift destruction. This work was a collaboration between artists Sylvia Griffin and Penny Coss, initially conceived as an east/west exchange and conceived as both highlighting the artists’ individual works as well as interactive pieces. Performative works planned to take place within the gallery space were reluctantly abandoned - the fate of the exhibition uncertain due to Covid lockdowns, with Griffin stranded in Sydney. These performative works have now been reimagined as a true east/west collaboration mediated through screens rather than in person, with instructional, sonic and performative elements based on intuition and trust.

Coss and Griffin each explore concepts of deep time referencing landscape and/or place through their use of materials, and evoking aspects of impermanence and transformation. While Griffin challenges concepts of permanence and heroism often associated with memorial culture, Coss elicits aspects of impermanence through her encounters with landscapes on the precipice of transformation.