Patterns, regular repeated organisations of elements, are omnipresent in the natural and human-engineered world. Patterns found in one context are often repeated in another, deliberately in some cases, though commonly as a part of a natural evolution.
Melissa Cameron’s pattern construction draws on the symmetric pattern-making operations; translation, rotation and reflection, the core transformations of Euclidean geometry. She also utilises replication of forms at shifted scale, using uniform scaling as well as morphological scaling - otherwise known as dilation and erosion.
Through a methodical drawing practice, one that employs Autocad for its precision, she investigates motif. Through a strict application of geometry new patterns emerge incrementally, and motif itself mutates. Given the iterative rather than repetitive action of this investigation, often several drawings are produced for a single work. Conversely, several unique works will arrive from different applications of a single pattern.
In the manufacture of her works Cameron saw-pierces recycled objects by hand, or when manipulating titanium and stainless steel, she utilises laser-cutting technology. Employing multiple cutting methodologies facilitates the use of a variety of materials, from thick stainless steel plate to thin pressed tin. Through laser cutting she is able create patterns much larger than those possible to be cut by hand; alternately hand sawing privileges fragile materials. A single pattern, within which one or many motifs are repeated, are used in both cases, enabling the creation of at least one pair, if not multiple, works from each pattern.
Each work liberates the pattern from the Cartesian plane from which it was conceived. By raising and lowering the elements on steel or silk guide wires the separate pieces are linked into a single, spatially complex, structure. Like any other system, the connections in these objects are under tension. As such the works can flex and move.
Each work depends on the tension of the cable against the weight of the strung elements to create space. In this way they emulate complex architectural forms. And yet, the fragile linkages between parts are reminiscent of the invisible ties that interweave seemingly independent organic structures in an ecosystem. The delicate balance in her works speak to a universal truth; the inextricable interdependence between the elements of any system.