Helga Groves
Earth Time (24 animation stills) #1, 2024
Graphite on paper - window mounted
102 cm x 106 cm (framed)
Artist statement
Earth Time is a set of drawings I created for an animation featuring a 3.48 billion year old drill core sample from the Dresser Formation in the Pilbara, Western Australia.
The artwork evolved following an expedition I undertook with scientists to the Pilbara, to see firsthand the fossilized stromatolites; ancient organic lifeforms believed to be the oldest, best preserved evidence of life on our planet.
True to scale from observation of the physical sample, each of the 24 drawings interprets its own evolution as the rock rotates, whereupon stratigraphical traces of fossilized stromatolites are slowly revealed.
Artist bio
Helga Groves’ mixed media art practice is informed by rigorous investigations into geophysical processes and natural phenomena across the vast expanse of geological time. She attended Sydney College of the Arts from 1985 – 88, completing a Master of Visual Arts in 2000. Having held 43 solo exhibitions since 1989, has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and abroad, collections include nationwide public and private.
Selected awards: Creative Australia Project Grants in 2023, 2019, 2016, and the Helsinki Studio, Finland, 2010; Arts Victoria International Touring Grant, 2008; the prestigious Moet and Chandon Australian Art Fellowship, 1997 and the Asialink Hanoi Residency, Vietnam, 1995.