A great shock of brilliant hairs thrilled the sky

The spectacle of the firework celebrates and commemorates, marking time and occasion.

A great shock of brilliant hairs thrilled the sky by Emily Parsons-Lord lingers on the experience of witnessing an extraordinary event; of the dazzling sensation that resonates somewhere between awe and terror. Using the explosion as a material, this work questions what it means to be a witness to the spectacular collapse that is scripted onto the planet: great melting, bushfires, floods, drought, the awe-filled aesthetics of the climate crisis.

They explode with dazzling colour. Each colour is the fiery transformation of an element from solid into air, the shifting from cosmic to human time in a rapid fire crack. Remixing eyewitness accounts of explosions throughout history, including atomic bombs, meteorite impacts, supernovas and the first fireworks from China, A great shock of brilliant hairs thrilled the sky maps the volatile elemental connection between the earth and the sky, and the stories of human wonder that exist at the surface.

About the artist 

Practicing on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and the Boon Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nation, Emily Parsons-Lord’s practice is concerned with air and explosions, materials of the climate crisis that speak to both the invisibility and the spectacle of collapse, and the disorientation that occurs at the confluence of personal and planetary catastrophe. 

An explosion is a rapid state of transformation from one state to another. Shifting our thinking to a geological timescale, the rapidity of changes since the industrial revolution make it clear that we are currently exploding. Emily’s work investigates the experience of witnessing this expanded unstable moment of multiple simultaneous catastrophes. It slips in register and scale from the sublime to the relatable, and queer.

About the space

you're okay by Brand X is an art activation space in the foyer and front window of the City of Sydney Creative Studios. The space brings contemporary and experimental digital, performance, and installation art directly to Sydney's CBD footpath and the daily city commuters. Showcasing local, national, and the studio's in-residence talent, you're okay offers uncommon and unconventional art to take you out of your everyday.

you're okay has two spaces:

• Front Window: As you walk along Bathurst Street, peer into the City of Sydney Creative Studios' front window to view artworks ranging from video, digital, performance, and installation. Open 24 hours, 7 days/week.

• Cafe Foyer/Ground Floor: Located in OK COOL cafe & bar, showcasing installation, built environments, site-responsive art and sculptures, textiles, and photography. Open Monday to Friday: 7am – 3pm.

This project is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW and City of Sydney Creative Studios.