Sharyn Wragg

Anemone buttercup (Anemoneus ranunculus) and three Max Mueller’s burr daisies (Calotis pubescens)

fabric, beads, wire, embroidery thread

Buttercup: 34.8 x 10 x 9.5 cm Daisies: each approx 29 x 9 x 7 cm

Artist statement: Creating these flowers was a fascinating project for me. As a member of the early prototyping workshops, I was able to combine traditional sewing skills with my experience in design and technology, drafting leaves and petals to be laser-cut in the ANU MakerSpace, and assembling these on to a 3D-printed supportive button drafted in a CAD program. Trying to replicate the complexity of the florets in the centre of an Anemone Buttercup or Max Mueller’s Burr Daisy took many trial-and-error iterations, and while each flower was crafted as an artwork, the organisms they model are of unfathomable complexity and value. For most of my teen and early twenties, I worked as a cattle hand in the Victorian highlands, herding cattle on the descendant of a brumby. Wild horses were rare then. Now, they are a common sight on my hiking and camping trips, thin and hungry, clopping around my tent. The damage they do to our fragile Alps is obvious and disheartening. I hope the results of our project will remind the governments responsible for the Australian Alps that many people care deeply about protecting the alpine national parks from feral horses and other threats.