Our Small Terrain
Counihan Gallery, Brunswick, Melbourne 2023
Medium: found reclaimed/salvaged materials from the artist’s everyday life; including pulp, pips, plants, mycelium, roots, and cardboard pipes, wire, bamboo, Cast bronze, Sound and video

Chaco Kato's art practice delves deep into new spatial situations, social contexts, and materials and processes, each encounter unveiling a distinct realm of exploration. This installation delves into Kato's enduring fascinations with ephemerality and the definition of waste, blurring the boundaries between art and non-art, the natural and the man-made, the controlled and the uncontrolled. Central to her practice is the concept of continuous processes mirroring the generative cycles of organisms and human life, where impermanence and flux reign supreme. The act of gathering diverse organic materials - from pulp and pips to plants, mycelium, roots, and salvaged street items - forms a vital foundation of her work. This approach delves into the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth, underscoring the fragile yet robust essence of existence and the intricate interplay between humanity and the environment.