Caroline Rothwell

Weed ll

Shown at Sue Crockford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand, WEED ll is part of a series that extends the artist’s work as a sculptor to site-based drawings - working directly on the wall with signwriter’s vinyl and later, the use of the coloured vinyl on large sheets of clear PVC.

Following a three month residency at the Lakeside Arts Centre at the University of Nottingham, in 2003, (the artist was born in England but lives in Auckland, New Zealand) the artist continues to develop her themes based around the predominant motif of the weed.

As Nicholas Alfrey writes in the catalogue essay that accompanied the exhibition in Nottingham, U.K. and at the Gus Fisher Gallery in Auckland, New Zealand:

 “…the weed has particular significance in a New Zealand context. One of the sources Rothwell uses for her imagery is a book by F W Hilgendorf entitled Weeds of New Zealand, first published in 1926; it has a significant subheading "and how to eradicate them". A weed is regarded as a plant in the wrong place, its presence in field or garden inimical to profit and pleasure. The majority of the weeds in New Zealand originated from England, and could only have been introduced by human activity…weeds are relentless invaders and colonisers, they are tough and persistent, aggressive and successful; they are aliens…”

Nicholas Alfrey, The Weeds of Arcadia, in Elsewhere, New Work by Caroline Rothwell, excerpt included with the permission of the artist.