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Fiona Hall is a dedicated gardener. During the past year, this central part of her life also has become a key aspect of her work as an artist, with gardens commissioned by the National Gallery of Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Canberra. For several years this strong personal interest in plants also has been reflected in the better known areas of her work, for example the photographic series Historia non-naturalis 1992, and more recently in the small paintings and soap carvings of the Cash Crop exhibition shown at the Institute of Modern Art. This body of work was produced during a residency at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens, Mount Coot-tha, as part of the Volt program of the Brisbane Festival.
The new work is, to a large extent, a re-invented taxonomy of plants. The language of money was used to identify the facsimiles of fruits, tubers and seeds carved in pastel coloured soap, and the white paintings of leaves on bank notes. As well as the scientific, botanical names and the common, popular names, a third naming system was applied, using such money market terms as Liquid Asset (for the grape), Deal Sweetener (for sugar) and Sharemarket Float (for the lotus). There is a humorous, punning, connection between these names and what they describe, but the reality of the natural world being controlled by the financial world is the serious purpose behind this eccentric nomenclature.
Because of the delicate appearance of the objects, and the way they were displayed like sacred relics in glass cases in a darkened room, Cash Crop gave the impression of being something like a shrine to nature. Fiona Hall's respectful regard