ORCHID HOUSE
Artist Statement
Prior to European arrival, much of what we now call the Gold Coast used to be a swamp. Once teeming with unique wildlife and flora, these wetlands were reshaped by 20th century development which gave us today’s canals, bridges, roads, residents and tourists – but which also took away many species. However, every time it floods, inland from the beach, the Gold Coast tries to turn back into a swamp, with submerged lowlands acting as a reminder of what, beneath the layers of glass, concrete and steel, always was and always will be here. ORCHID HOUSE FOR BLEACH 2020 is a story told by a cohort of selected non-human others – orchids, ferns, lilies and palms – those rare, endangered and extinct local species who once populated The Great Swamp, and whose return is written on the scent of rain.
About the work
ORCHID HOUSE is an ongoing artistic research project by Danni Zuvela exploring Phaius australis, the endangered Giant Swamp Orchid.
Once found throughout the wetlands of the mid-north to tropical coast of Queensland, the orchid, with its masses of large cinnamon and mauve blooms on tall flower spikes (the tallest of any orchid in Australia), has been hunted to near-extinction in the wild in this country. In addition to over-collection by enthusiastic flower hunters, Phaius australis requires a wetland habitat with regular freshwater inundation – exactly the sort of landscape that has been cleared, “reclaimed” and canalised for property development, especially on the Gold Coast.
Its survival as an Australian swamp plant now lies in the hands of a handful of tissue culture scientists, orchidists and passionate suburban gardeners.
ORCHID HOUSE FOR BLEACH 2020 is an installation featuring this special local plant in an array of real and imagined scenarios, in conversation with other tropical plantings. The constant presence of water, real and implied, recalls the orchid’s former home in an obliterated chain of lagoons named on early maps as the ‘Great Swamp’, which was fed by overflow from Mudgereeba and Bonogin Creeks, eventually joining with the Nerang River. ORCHID HOUSE FOR BLEACH 2020 is sited on Chevron Island, an urban island entirely girt by the Nerang River.
The humid setting, experimental lighting and sound conjure the feeling of the orchid “in the wild” – sensing the encroachment of relentless over-development, the ever-shrinking habitat, as well as the yearning for periodic flows of freshwater and nearness of other non-human companions including ferns, lilies, palms and melaleucas (tea-trees).
This installation explores the subjectivity of a disappearing species, speculates on what it feels like to be this orchid, and how it might feel about us, who have destroyed its habitat, and have loved it almost to death.
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Numerous people and organisations have contributed to the research, experimentation and growing of Phaiuses for this project. Deepest thanks go to: Ken Bizzell, Dr. Dion Harrison, Gold Coast Orchid Society, Gold Coast Local Studies Library, and Ian “orchid man” of Mermaid Waters.
Installation audio (excerpts)