PHYTO- takes as its subject the relative biodiversity of Australia and Iceland; two environs that superficially exist in stark contrast. With some 3.7-billion-year geological age difference between the two lands, there is an enormous ecological distinction that is to be expected. Both, however, find common ground in that their ecologies are fundamentally underpinned by paradoxically resilient and fragile biota.

Cultural fascination with expansive landscape and megafauna regularly takes precedence in the easy-to-consume spectacle of nature, overlooking the vulnerable, minute ecological systems that bring the world together. That which we fail to notice, and by extension devalue, is our undoing; giving rise to profound environmental, and ultimately, sociological implications.

Providing a space for reflection rather than rhetoric, the works aim to reject anthropocentric thinking, which frame the natural world as being passive. Rather, PHYTO- opts for a more symbiotic approach to recognise an intimacy in our relationship with environment.

Imogen Kotsoglo is a Western Australian emerging artist based between Perth and Edinburgh. Having graduated from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2015 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Expanded Studio Practice), Kotsoglo has gone on to exhibit in solo and group exhibitions throughout Finland, Iceland, Italy, Scotland, and Australia. Kotsoglo’s creative output is multifaceted, with a practice deeply rooted in drawing. Her works primarily explore the capacity of drawing and installation to express our relationship with nature.