In the Balance 2021-ongoing
In 2021 Helen Earl and Belinda Piggott discovered they had been working with similar materials and concepts. Taking cues from their respective local environments Helen works with plant material, and Belinda with kelp. Both artists also explore ideas inspired by natural environments and human induced changes within ecosystems. Their collaborative body of work highlights the issue that, as carbon emissions increase, the forests of trees and seaweed, the world’s natural carbon sinks, diminish. They won the inaugural Environmental Art and Design Award for Sculpture in 2021 with Carbon Credits. In the Balance was installed in a chamber at the Waverton Coal Loader as part of the 2022 North Sydney Prize exhibition in 2022. In 2023 they are planning to extend this body work to incorporate new materials and themes.