Following a devastating health diagnosis, artist Cara-Ann Simpson turned to nature to help her heal, and rediscover what brought her joy and happiness.
Already a practicing artist when she fell ill, Cara-Ann’s experience saw her change course from a curatorial career and highly technical installation art practice to an exploration of her lived experience.
Cara-Ann said her resulting exhibition, ‘Furari Flores’, which is Latin for stealing flowers, celebrates the wonder of plants.
“It really comes out of my journey of learning to live with chronic illness and disability,” Cara-Ann said.
“In 2017, I got a brain infection called encephalitis, and I spent nearly a year in hospital.
“Coming out of that, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and a condition called neuro sarcoidosis.
“I had to learn how to walk again and to speak clearly again.
“After hospital I actually went into rehab and my partner would come up every afternoon and take me to the gardens.
“I think plants have always been part of my life, but it wasn’t until I was in that process, that I started realising how important they actually are to me personally and how they can help us get through really difficult times.”
‘Furari Flores’ is on display at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery as part of the gallery’s summer exhibition program.
Visitors to the gallery can see, hear and smell the exhibition, which includes photography, textiles, sound, video and scent sculptures to create a multi-sensory experience.
Cara-Ann said she wanted the exhibition to have more than a museum or archival feeling.
“I started creating the still images, and they are focused-stacked photography, which is where you take a number of photos with different focal points and combine them together so you get a sharp object.
“I really love using that because I can actually capture not just the sharpness and the depth of the plant, but also as they start to wilt in the way that I’ve hung them.
“Combined with those I have spectrography, which is the visual analysis of soundwaves.
“In the still works, it’s actually my voice pronouncing the titles in Latin.
“And so, I love that there’s this memory of me in them and this process, kind of like a ghost in a way, but captured.”
Cara-Anne said viewers were encouraged to find connections between the ideas and themes she has explored in the artworks and the species represented, which include ornamental, indigenous and invasive species, and some species endemic to Bundaberg.
“Bundaberg is an incredible landscape,” she said.
“I love storytelling through exhibitions, and this has lots of layers.
“There are all these little threads that people could relate to or link into.
“I think for me, it’s also about connecting to the earth and grounding yourself and recognising where you are and how beautiful it is.”
‘Furari Flores’ is on display at Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery until 31 January 2026.
Find out more at artsbundaberg.com/Galleries.
