Suzanne Medwell, The Cassandra Complex (ART, OBJECTS 2022)

Photos:

Judith Medwell

Cassandra was a Trojan princess and priestess of the god Apollo. She was given the gift of prophecy but then cursed to never be believed. One of her more famous prophesies was predicting the Greek warriors hidden within the Trojan horse. My Cassandra piece is designed to invoke thought and discussion around what is known as the Cassandra Complex. In terms of climate, the Cassandra complex is applied to specialized climate scientists (known as Cassandra's) whose professional career it is to model and forecast, yet who are continually ignored or disbelieved. The Cassandra Complex was carved fully unplugged (no power tools) in huon pine, from a tree that may have been a sapling when Cassandra’s story was first mentioned in Homers Iliad. Huon’s are an ancient tree of this world that are now under threat due to climate change and fire. But will we finally listen to our Cassandra's and face climate change as Cassandra faced the Trojan horse? Or will we continue to disbelieve, or worse, take the road of apathy? Materials used included Japanese saws, draw knives, pfeil and netsuke chisels/gouges, corradi files, and sand paper.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.