AETHERIUM Ancestral vale, 2000 - 2019 Laser cut, perforated aluminium Dimensions variable Virginia King's suspended sculpture AETHERIUM Ancestral vale is a memory of Kauri forests lost, ghosts of the past and a pertinent warning of the current threats of Kauri dieback and the need to protect our environment. The aluminium trunks suspended from the trees have an ethereal beauty, the subtlety of the silver fronds shimmering in the light almost disappear with the chiaroscuro effect. Throughout her practice, Virginia King often utilises recycled materials in her artworks. She is an environmentalist and a recurring theme running through her work is to draw awareness to our environment and the earth's delicate ecosystems. She abstracts forms from nature, often magnifying the scale and places the work back within a specific natural landscape it is synonymous with. Kauri are indigenous to the forests of northern New Zealand, where they are a centrepiece, stretching tall. The biggest Kauri can reach heights of over 50 metres and as some of the longest living tree species in the world, they can live for over 1000 years. Kauri provide shelter and protect many smaller native trees and flora that grow under its giant canopy, which is why they have the role of the greatest rangatira of our forests and need to be protected. Kauri dieback disease was discovered in New Zealand forests in 2009; it is a pathogen that destroys the trees from the roots and is threatening kauri with functional extinction. This work was originally commissioned in 2000 as a central atrium installation at Botany Town Centre. Decommissioned in 2019, the artwork was returned to the artist who has gifted it to the Brick Bay Sculpture Trail. It has been reconfigured and installed in the Kahikatea Forest on the Brick Bay Trail.
