KATE BALLIS | SCULPTED GARDEN
Gallerysmith
40 Porter St, Prahran
10 Sep - 3 Oct, 2026
This body of work developed from the question "Do flowers emit infrared light?"
Sculpted Garden captures Kate Ballis’ freshly-cut blooms as sculpted forms, where soft petals and dusty stamen appear delicate and porcelain-like. Weaving together unseen frequencies of light and contemporary technology, Ballis reveals both the resilience and fragility inherent in nature.
The soft blue and alabaster relief ground, reminiscent of Wedgwood Jasperware, also speaks to themes of classical mythology which Ballis has explored more recently. Here, the artist brings a contemporary lens to enduring ideas around beauty and transformation, merging the visual language of historical art and design with the possibilities of infra-red technology and new media.
ARTIST STATEMENT
"Guided by curiosity, I sought to uncover whether flowers emit infrared light. Using a full-spectrum camera and meticulous focus stacking techniques, each photograph is an amalgamation of over 100 shots, all featuring flowers that I planted in my garden. Shot under artificial infrared light used for security cameras, the flowers appeared transformed, emerging as delicate porcelain-like sculptures, their textures and forms taking on an otherworldly quality.
To complement this transformation, I replaced their original blue background with digital imagery that mirrors the porcelain style of Wedgwood Jasperware. Historically, Jasperware depicted classical mythological figures and floral scenes, preserving them as timeless reliefs. I hope that this nod to Jasperware imbues these new works with a sense of timelessness, framing each flower not just as a fleeting moment in a garden, but as a preserved relic, like mythological muses immortalised in stone."