Cameron, Jane

Jane Michaele Cameron

PhD student

UNSW Art & Design

Profile Picture
Research interests / activities

I’m doing a practice based PhD which explores our understanding of emotional response in art by allowing the viewer to experience an aspect of the more-than-human world, in particular, that of an ant, through the ant’s senses.
 
My field is Sci-Art and the project is underpinned by a non-binary approach to nature. I am using drawing and sculpture to reinterpret and challenge epistemological traditions of scientific illustration. My research is assisted by field trips for observational drawing and expert scientist interviews to understand narrative and multisensory possibilities in the work.  
 
I aim to generate new insights around creative approaches to emotionally engage an audience by experiencing this ant’s world. The bull ant is chosen as a resilient Australian creature that has often been maligned as a pest, and yet has extraordinary sensory and navigational abilities which set it apart from most other ant species.

Outputs

awards
2023: finalist, Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize
2023: finalist, Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize
presentations:
Sept 2021: Frankenlaw Critical Law Conference (CLC), Dundee University, Scotland. Presentation and short film entitled Anthropocene: embracing trouble. https://clc2021.com/programme/parallel-4/#ecocide3
Sept 2021: Ecocide/Speciesism: Legislating Hierarchy, Interdependence, Death Online Symposium, based in Atlanta Georgia. Paper entitled: An ant in a post-human landscape
Nov 2021: Regrowth & Resistance event (https://envihumestechne.wordpress.com), Kew Gardens, London. Brief paper and presentation of short film, Anthropocene:embracing trouble
March 2023: UNSW Art & Design HDR Conference. Title: Fire in the Belly: Reframing catastrophic climate change from an ant's viewpoint through immersive storytelling.
Teaching: tutor, Masters in Design, UNSW Art & Design