A local Lismore artist is using her love for sculpting to spread an … – Lismore City News

Jenn Rowe is a local artist, who uses sculpting and art as a way to communicate her concerns about global warming and to connect with her Indigenous ancestry.

She is a descendant of the Trawlwulwuy nation in North East Tasmania, but spent most of her life in New South Wales and the Northern Rivers.

Art and caring for the country has been a cornerstone of Ms Rowe’s life since she can remember. However, her decision to pursue art with greater intent was by-product of a frightening discovery.

Ms Rowe, is an early childhood educator, which in 2013 led her to Malaysia and Borneo. It was here that she taught english and wrote curriculum, before returning to Australia in 2017.

Upon return, she went to a shop in Nimbin that was filled with crystals and her mind began to spin.

She was concerned by where these so-called “wellness crystals” were sourced and just how sustainable they were.

Her research into the matter raised more concerns.

Emily Atkins, a New Republic writer, found that many purported healing crystals come from large-scale industrial mines and are by-product of child labour.

This was a frightening discovery for Ms Rowe, however, she began to see art as a way to protest against the paradoxical nature of the crystal industry.

She started to religiously peruse op-shops for crystals becoming what may have appeared to be a crystalaholic, when in fact, it was a calling to subvert that fuelled this escapade.

“I turned the crystals into sculptures that spoke to the contradictory nature of industry,” she said.

Ms Rowe has since parlayed this blazing entry into the Northern Rivers artistic community, into making sculptures that not only have a sustainable message but are sustainably sourced.

“You could throw one of my sculptures in the bush, and it would be fine, it would degrade back into the earth,” she said.

This appreciation for country and creative process is interdependently connected with her Indigenous ancestry.

“My ancestors, were fishers and shellers and would make jewellery from marina shells and carriers from kelp,” she said.

Ms Rowe has incorporated this approach into her own practice.

She uses materials from around the Northern Rivers, such as driftwood and feathers, to make her sculptures.

To view Ms Rowe’s latest work, the Lismore Regional gallery is currently holding the Where they walked exhibition, and a number of her sculptures are on display.

Head to 46 Magellan street, Lismore, to check out the exhibition.