CO-Lapses 2024
Co-Lapses is comprised of ten elegant, organically shaped clay and pigment suspended forms. Each vessel holds fine sand mixed with local pigment, releasing slender coloured streams onto the floor, forming peaked miniature mountains that reference ancient relationships between bodies and land. The work evokes deep time and Earth's biological and social systems, reminding us that the interconnectedness of Earth’s denizens extends beyond human perception and boundaries, and that our world is co-created through human-nonhuman & other-than-human relationships. Barnes’ motivation emerged from observing mud wasps building nests in her studio from red and yellow ochres taken from her pigment collection. Co-Lapses is a translation of the wasps’ design strategies for protecting the eggs they lay, reflecting Barnes’ interest in biomimicry—translating nature’s systems into human design. The pods suggest birth, procreation, and protection. Co-Lapses embodies time, meaning & shared material origins.
Orogenies of the Sublime 2025
Orogenies of the Sublime explores geological and psychological processes as metaphors for adaptation. The work draws on orogeny—the tectonic formation of mountains through collision and upheaval, examining how transformative pressures generate new forms in both nature and the human spirit, proposing ongoing adaptability shaped by ecological and existential crises.
The biomorphic suspended paintings traverse hemispheres between the winter currents of the Cervo River in Biella, Italy, and the heat-drenched landscapes of Australia. They reflect phenomenological dialogues with nature, oscillating between intimacy and expansiveness, engaging in a cyclical dialogue on creation, decay, and renewal.
Barnes reframes resilience as an adaptive force grounded in diversity, transformation, and decentralised agency. Drawing on ecosystems & socially resilient communities, the work challenges hierarchical climate responses, advocating for polycentric structures that foster adaptability, equity & hope.
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
Karma Barnes
New Zealand
Karma Barnes is a New Zealand-born, Australia-based interdisciplinary artist recognised for large-scale installations integrating sculptural forms, suspended paintings, and participatory practice. Her work employs site-responsive methods and sustainable materials—including industrial waste, new media, and earth pigments shaped over geological time—to interrogate the intersections of land history, human connection, and ecological crisis. Drawing on biomimicry, Barnes articulates visual metaphors that reflect the impermanence of temporal and cognitive processes, revealing the interplay between embodied experience and environmental change. Framed by climate disruption, her practice addresses themes of resilience, interconnectedness, and transformation. Through collaborative engagements, she examines how individuals and ecosystems adapt to instability, foregrounding creative practice as a mode of collective meaning-making and hope.