Swamp Creature (working title) by Trent Jansen is a fascinating project with a unique Australian narrative, Shared by many Australians as the foundation for a united identity, Swamp Creature has the potential to bring together our culturally disparate population under a single Australian story.
It references one of the many stories of a mythical creature, the Bunyip, that is known to lurk in our quintessential Australian landscape, the swamps and billabongs of our rainforests. The idea was given form through experimentation and iteration of a combination of texture, colour and materiality that references the natural environment, embodying the narrative.
The final design incorporates an asymmetrical body, padded with foam, wrapped using a free-form version of the capitone upholstery technique, giving the Swamp Creature (working title) an irregular, wrinkled, bulging and dark camouflaged leathery skin, brought to life in our Elmogrand leather.
This project was supported the National Gallery of Victoria and Stylecraft.
Trent Jansen is represented in Australia by Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert.
Photography by Jeremy Park.
