Gapado Artist in Residence First

Luminescence Plastiglomerate, 2022

Bioluminescence is observed in various marine organisms such as bacteria, algae, jellyfish, and deep-sea creatures. It is also found in some terrestrial organisms like fireflies and certain fungi. The light produced by these organisms serves different purposes, including communication, attracting prey or mates, and camouflage. Under normal circumstances, the light produced by these organisms serves different purposes, including communication, attracting prey or mates, and camouflage.

Luminescence Plastiglomerate, 2022

These objects were collected on the volcanic shores of Gapado. Hughes added a number of components to try to make the object reveal forms invisible under normal daylight. Photographed under black light, they reveal a sense of the uncanny. Each object was displayed during the Gapado AiR open studios.

Alien Suseok [study 1], 2022
Material: Pigment Inkjet with wax on 90% cotton paper
Size: 75 x 50 cms

Hughes' is engrossed by photography and its capacity to transform a subject beyond its referent, fascinated by its potential to reject and reassign meaning. Selected from a larger body of work, these two works are inspired by surrealism and the power of objects to evoke associations alien to their basic form. What might seem like a crustacean is actually melted plastic waste (plastiglomerate) which through the creative process becomes symbolic of a Suseok stone (or scholar's rock). Both sculptural creations rest on a sea surface that is reminiscent of J. G. Ballard's oxygen-permeable membrane described in the novel The Drought. They combine sculpture and photography, where the plastic objects become part of a larger, integrated whole.

Alien Suseok [study 2], 2022
Material: Pigment Inkjet with wax on 90% cotton paper
Size: 75 x 50 cms

Both these images are interconnected in terms of their material construction and subject matter. Created with materials collected from the Jeju Island volcanic system. This island lies on the continental shelf off the south coast of the Korean Peninsula and consists of a large (c. 70 km × 30 km), elliptical (elongate in an ENE–WSW direction) and symmetrical composite shield volcano (Mount Halla). Hallasan is the highest mountain in South Korea and is worshipped by people as they believe that gods and spirits live on the mountain. Hallasan has been known by numerous other names in Korean including Buak (부악/釜岳), Wonsan (원산/圓山), Jinsan (진산/鎭山), Seonsan (선산/仙山), Dumuak (두무악/頭無岳), Burasan (부라산/浮羅山), Yeongjusan (영주산/瀛州山), and Hyeolmangbong (혈망봉/穴望峯). Every name of Hallasan has meanings and legends.

Gapado Weed, 2022

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