If you have been paying attention, you would know i am a member of PAQ – Papermakers and Artists of Queensland. in 2025 we are mounting an exhibition that explores contemporary interpretations of the scroll, entitled “On a Roll”. I decided that I wanted to mount a FOLDED scroll as one of my submissions, and envisaged a massive tessellation:

I needed a theme, and a style. For a theme, I decided to try and “tell” the progression of the first year of the recent Covid-19 pandemic … because I could see a sequence of “blossoming” outbreaks that progressively “break” regular society.

The style choice was more complex – I love the aesthetic of Lacquerware – the Chinese/Japanese technique of covering simple materials in coatings of red lacquer, texture and patterns. I also wanted to have hints of “Kintsugi” – the Japanese technique of fixing broken pottery using lacquer and gold.

I chose red/natural Kraft paper because the red reminded me of the lacquer aesthetic, and the natural grounds the work in a common/everyday material. I selectively also introduced gilded elements into the finished folded work – symbolising the “patching” of the broken world – I went for a really minimal touch here, arguing less is more. Read further….

I cut a 2.5m x 0.7m rectangle of red/natural Kraft paper (my last roll of Ikea Kraft, sadly no longer available) after initially purchasing a red paper roll off Amazon (that I will use for other things). Constructing a triangle grid was a two-pronged challenge – a sheet that big was a materials-handling nightmare. I de-commissioned our dining table for a couple of weeks to do this. I also NEEDED one of the 3 axes of the triangle grid to go ACROSS the sheet, facilitating the “rolling” later. All of my previous constructions had an axis going ALONG the sheet, so had to get my head into a different orientation, without compromising accuracy. Triangle gridding took an AGE, resulting in units that are about 1.5cm, thousands of them.

I then established a field of closed-triangle twists over the entire sheet … hundreds of them … but realised I had not worked out the “covid” element. I took a 2x2x2 hexagon unit and designed a new molecule (I have called it a “virion” – the smallest infectious particle pf a virus, according to wikipedia). Once I had practiced the new molecule, I then strategically distributed them in increasing bursts – influenced, actually, by floral motifs common in pen and ink illustrations on traditional Chinese/Japanese scrolls (it’s all related 😛 ).

Once the “outbreaks” had been placed, they were tweaked to allow the closed-triangle twist field to surround them. Once the field was established, I then from the opposite end of the scroll mutated the field pattern into an open triangle weave that disintegrates the further down the length of the scroll to symbolise “the new normal”, clear change that indicates that Covid-19 will be likely with us for generations. I also folded a couple of “mutations” of the virus, hinting at trouble brewing.

Punctuating the now complex field are octagonal pits symbolising fatalities, and a golden pit that is meant to represent the amazingly quick development of a vaccine – a ray of light in a previously bleak time.

Abstraction is difficult, I know I am happy with the composition, elements and final finish. Do other people understand it – not sure, and also not sure it matters – people will interpret what they see regardless of my intentions. Showing my Mum, without explanation, she thought it was an oriental flower scroll, so that made me happy.

The topic of this scroll is really heavy, and effected us all – but it is easy to get swept away with the insane intricacy and scale of the piece – I know I thought it was a good idea at the time, but the brutal process to make it dampened my enthusiasm at times. If I ever see another closed-triangle twist, it will be too soon 😛

I hope it will be a worthy inclusion in a gallery exhibit about scrolls. I can now focus on my second work … and boy is it different. More of that later.

TLDR – thank you if you made it to the bottom of this post – I sometimes rant, but actually on this piece have been really brief – so many ideas swirled in my head about this piece. I hope you were interested at least, and perhaps, will come see the real thing for yourself. It is designed to be unrolled by gloved visitors.