Kerry Moir

Alpine sun orchid (Thelymitra alpicola)

woven cotton fabric including scraps from previous works, organza, wool felt, cotton and silk thread, beads, wire, fusibale interfacing, Inktense blocks

28.5 x 21 x 1.2 cm

Artist statement: Growing up in the Southwest Australia Biodiversity Hotspot, I was fascinated by the outstanding beauty and amazing delicate structures of the terrestrial orchids that sprang up every year. Thelymitra alpicola, the Alpine Striped Sun Orchid, is the most extreme of the sun orchid group living in the highest part of Australia where survival is a perpetual battle. The era of commercial livestock grazing in this fragile environment ended more than 50 years ago but its devastating impacts are still apparent. Future children will only be able to enjoy the Alpine Striped Sun Orchid if grazing by feral horses is also removed from the Kosciuszko Biosphere Reserve. My 3D representation of a single flower symbolises the potential tragic but preventable loss of thousands of real sun orchids.

Based on a photograph by Colin & Mischa Rowan/RetiredAussies.com