Kairos: Dr Merri Randell

Time is an interesting philosophical construct – especially as it relates to natural places experiencing climate change. How are natural spaces and trees experiencing time during this ‘existential crisis’?

For First Nations people time is experienced as the ‘Everywhen’, where “…past and future are interconnected – continually circling, folding and merging into the present.” (Out of the Everywhen, Plimsoll Gallery, 2023) The Greeks viewed time through two lenses – ‘Chronos’ and ‘Kairos’. ‘Chronos’ refers to chronological or sequential time. ‘Kairos’ or kairological time refers to moments that repeat, like a birthday or anniversary, Summer, high tide, Monday, full moon and even breakfast. Unlike, ‘Chronos’ which is relentless, compulsive, unconscious – ‘Kairos’ offers us the opportunity for consciousness, reflection or “…a unique time in a person’s life and an opportunity for change.” (Lefevre 2022)

Kairos seeks to explore these experiences of time through a unique immersive, audio visual experience and will showcase cinematic landscapes which have been exhibited internationally and around mainland Australia in curated and award exhibitions over the past decade – but never together in one space. These artworks create a context for Dr Merri Randell’s new Tasmanian landscapes inspired by their home in nipaluna/Hobart and the voices they vibrate with here. nipaluna called to them through the floodwaters engulfing their previous home in South East Queensland in 2022 and they arrived a few weeks later. This catastrophic flooding was caused by climate change.

Image: Bellmore: Roots (Randell 2015)