Naomi EllerIf not bones, then stones

Naomi Eller is a Melbourne artist who makes sculpture inspired by nature, myth and the human condition, translating our complex states and feelings into visual form. For the installation If not bones, then stones she presents a new body of work that sees a shift in her formerly figurative practice towards the production of objects that are more enigmatic and numinous—organic forms either found, adapted or handmade that have been tinkered with and pieced together, and invested with a new energy and psychological charge.

These remains of once living things are activated in a sensual and sometimes sexual way: the hollowed pelvis-shaped bones are penetrated by long waxy sticks, while the ‘tools’ are like phalluses, weapons or playthings complete with decorative and interchangeable heads. Primordial in appearance they carry the residues of memory and the weight of the passage of time, yet also the magic of the talisman. It is the ‘heavy funny business’, as Eller describes it, of death in life and the life that can be found in death.