Creating Art with Empathy for the Non-Human World

Bamford’s natural curiosity and connection to her local environment has led her to produce different series of work that address specific issues such as, how climate change has impacted the Tasmanian marine environment.

Beyond aesthetics, she hopes that her work prompts dialogue about both the beauty and fragility of the interconnections along the Great Southern Reef.

They are colourful, small, slow-moving fish that 'walk' along the riverbed. Adults are around 7–9 cm long in size and are endemic to south-east Tasmania, Australia. To reproduce, they attach clusters of eggs to structures such as the stalks of kelp and seagrass. 

Over the past decades cumulative threats including the invasion of the North Pacific Seastar and scallop dredge fisheries led to the extensive destruction of a huge portion of the spotted handfish’s egg laying habitat.

Made from fine white porcelain, the ceramic spires mimic the stalked ascidians (sometimes called sea tulips) that the spotted handfish would normally lay their egg mass around. 

The most urgent matter concerning their survival is the threat posed by an introduced species, the Northern Pacific Seastar (Asterias amurens). These sea stars prey on the sea tulips (stalked ascidians) on which the fish lay their eggs on.

5000 ceramic artificial spawning habitats have now been distributed across known species sites and the population has been reported to “stabilise”. In 2019 Bamford, Lynch and team (including Alex Hormann and Tim Fountain were awarded for their 'design for impact' work. 

This project has given Jane the opportunity to combine her ceramic art practice for more positive environmental conservation outcomes.

Oyster larvae are attracted to substrates rich in calcium, like their own shells, which helps them aggregate and combine with other shellfish to form large reefs.