UNLEASHED - Artist Profile: Kirralee and Ash Robinson
Kirralee and Ash Robinson
Meanjin (Brisbane)
Brisbane craftspeople Ash and Kirralee Robinson owned and operated a small business making timber homewares. Kirralee Robinson's practice revolves around the exploration of elemental phenomena through sculptures and functional pieces. This series delves into the realms of light, optics, kinetics, and tactility, influenced by the worlds of science fiction, ecofeminist theory, and material conservation. Ash is a craftsman interested in learning new skills across all media and particularly enjoys restoring timber to highlight its natural grains. Together they have created a collection of furniture, and this is their first time collaborating since turning to study and new lines of work during Covid.
Spill is a range of furniture made from reclaimed materials such as Australian hardwood, which have been embellished with gold, copper and silver coloured leaf. The pieces take cues from the architectural world of imagined spaces depicted in Professor Lauretta Vinciarelli's watercolour paintings. The Spill objects respond to their environment, becoming mediating conduits through which natural light is amplified, materialised, and experienced in real-time.
These furniture pieces intrinsically and explicitly explore concepts and methodologies relating to material waste, while also emphasising ambient environmental shifts. They move our focus to the reciprocal relationship that materials have with social and ecological systems.
Image credits:
Kirralee and Ash Robinson (2023) Spill. 135 x 50 x 35cm.
