Storm Chasers Exhibition

Seventh Gallery, Richmond VICTORIA
29th of June to the 22nd of July 2023

‘Storm Chasers’ draws from a previous body of work titled the ‘Disaster Diaries’, created in 2022. The series, which includes two woodcuts titled ‘An Unnatural Phenomenon’ and ‘Into The Storm,’ depict a tornado approaching Tansey, a small town west of Gympie in Queensland during October 2018. The image, uploaded online by a Storm Chaser, resembles scenes from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (1939) and ‘Twister’ (1996). These films arguably romanticise extreme weather, contributing to annual pilgrimages to Tornado Alley, USA. 

Phoebe Beard presents nine artworks that draws from research and photography taken by Australian StormChasers. Cyclone Ilsa, a Category Five cyclone, hit large parts of the Pilbara coast in April 2023. Natural disasters such as Cyclone Ilsa and Tornado Tansey have become common wind events due to the Earth’s changing temperatures. The nine lime green artworks act as warnings to Storm Chasers. Unnatural and iridescent, the green tornadoes and cyclones symbolise the impact of climate change on Australia and the world.