Aly de Groot is a renowned environmental artist, who is passionate about the tropical north. Aly first began stocking her creations with us in 2015 and over the past few years has also hosted workshop experiences at our spaces.
Our community have embraced her one-of-a-kindness jellyfish jewellery collection, and here, Aly shares her story for creating change with us...
How would you describe ways that you give back / pay it forward in our community?
An example of this is my work Lucky- Patron Saint of All Things Protected, which won the 2013 TOGART Prize. My work Jellyfish, A Blue and Green Study was a finalist in the Waterhouse Natural Sciences Award in 2020. Another work, titled Green Jellyfish, is currently in a major exhibition at the Le Havre Museum of Natural History in France. I am also a dedicated mentor and teacher, having facilitated hundreds of creative workshops in Darwin and across Australia at schools, prisons, hospitals, universities, festivals and remote Indigenous communities.
What is your one-of-a-kindness story?
A recent project is my ' Wish Upon a Jellyfish' Installation at this years Darwin Festival. Long fascinated by the beautiful but dangerous box jellyfish, I combined my passions for marine conservation and basketry to create ethereal jellyfish art-forms from discarded fishing line and recycled fabrics – entire fleets of them, both large and small, matching their proliferation in our sea.
Some of these were completed collaboratively in the Starwin Collective Women's Business Circle. These were auctioned in a silent online auction and the funds raised were donated to my favourite ocean defenders- Sea Shepherd. Some of the the Jellyfish that remained travelled to Port Douglas in September and featured in the Call of the Running Tide, 2021 festival.
Can you share with us a story of how you care for country?
I am a multi-disciplinary textile and fibre artist and my diverse arts practice includes basketry, textiles, sculpture and cyanotype printmaking. I celebrate the unique fauna and fauna of Northern Australia, with an emphasis on the importance of preservation and protection. It is important to me that my work reaches diverse audiences through a multitude of platforms including exhibitions, workshops, public sculpture and installations, so as to share the stories of the tragic tale of sea life in the plastic age.
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