To Weather

To Weather

As water particles accumulate as masses of clouds in the sky, they condense onto one another. Once these droplets become too heavy to stay suspended within the cloud, they fall onto Earth as precipitation; as rain.

From the 1st of August to the 18th of September 2019, 419.6 mm of rainfall fell within Central Auckland, New Zealand.

To Weather focuses on the phenomenon of as subject, medium and co-producer. Two bodies of work have been produced, with each focusing on recorded rainfall.

The Precipitation series involves laying canvases outdoors, flat upon the ground, when rain is forecast to fall. Through this methodology the weather becomes an active agent in the formation of the work. Representation emerges as each raindrop shapes the paint, tracing its own presence.

Isabella Young, To Weather, Water Vapour. Graduate Show installation detail. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand: Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.

Water Vapor is a durational work in which daily rainfall data has been translated into a specific amount of vaporised water, released through a fog machine. For every day’s cumulative rainfall in mm, the fog machine releases an equal amount of liquid vapour into the atmosphere. A temporal mist replicates the hydrological cycle, producing cloud formations within the gallery space.

Each spell or absence of rainfall is followed by a 60 second rest to signify one day.

3.5 months of precipitation has been scaled into a total of 179 minutes.

Isabella Young. Precipitation 22/08/19 26.2 mm, 2019. [Hail, Rain and Acrylic on Canvas, 1526 x 1024 mm]. Vancouver, Canada: Private Collection. — Isabella Young. *Precipitation 22/08/19 26.2 mm*, 2019. [Hail, Rain and Acrylic on Canvas, 1526 x 1024 mm]. Vancouver, Canada: Private Collection.

Isabella Young. Precipitation 04/09/19 13.0 mm, 2019. [Hail, Rain and Acrylic on Canvas, 1526 x 1024 mm]. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand: Collection of the Artist.

Isabella Young. Precipitation 25/09/19 11.4 mm, 2019, details. [Hail, Rain and Acrylic on Canvas, 1526 x 2014 mm]. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand: Collection of the Artist.

Isabella Young. Precipitation 03/10/19 4.6 mm, 2019. [Hail, Rain and Acrylic on Canvas, 1526 x 1024 mm]. Vancouver, Canada: Private Collection.

Isabella Young, To Weather. Graduate Show installation detail. Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand: Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.