The Zohar, a classic Kabbalistic text of Jewish mysticism, describes the dynamic creation of the world and everything in it. (1) All inanimate and organic matter in existence is linked like a chain, interwoven and interconnected. Also known as the Book of Radiance, the text is filled with fantastical visions of illuminated vessels and cascading rivers of colourful light that ascend and descend. Its language of growth, germination and abundance expresses an infinite pooling and expansion of forms. The emanating light is the source of life, constantly flowing and renewing itself, and bringing vitality to all things.

In Kabbalah, the structure of reality is represented by concentric geometric diagrams. These layered, interconnecting circles are, for artist Lauren Berkowitz, reminiscent of atoms, DNA strands, or planets, suns and solar systems, from which life is formed and sustained.

Berkowitz’s installations in The National 2021 are steeped in the imagery of these multi-layered narratives, and dominated by circular forms. Fragile Ecologies (2020–21) comprises three suspended constellations, five-metres high, of plastic lids and rings delicately bound together with nylon thread. Colour fields of saturated blues, purples, greens, reds, oranges and whites distinguish the columns, each pouring down into an overflow of plastic lids at their base. These vibrant combinations relate to the four elements of fire, earth, air and water. They echo, too, the seasonal rhythms of the natural world and the fragile co-dependencies within our ecosystems.

In Plastic Topographies (2020–21), installed by the eastern windows of the gallery, these colour shifts are more subtle. Berkowitz conjoins lids, rings and takeaway containers into pillars above a sprawling ground cover – or topography – of plastics. Zohar imagery is recalled again here, with regenerative circular forms, voids, links, cells and vessels illuminated and animated by natural light, and punctuated throughout by the artist’s seeding of life-giving plants.

In contrast to the harmonious cosmogony of the Zohar, the abundance of single-use plastic in these works also portrays a cautionary microcosm of planetary decay. By-products of mass production and consumerism, the components seem to multiply and morph into surreal dystopian landscapes; and the polymer chains that bind each ‘ephemera’ are lasting.

Acts of salvaging, recycling and rehabilitating found materials have been central to Berkowitz’s practice over the past three decades. They draw from her personal interest in the Jewish philosophy of Tikkun Olam: humanity’s responsibility to repair the world through good deeds and small gestures. As Berkowitz notes:

At times, this allows me to act as a caretaker, tidying littered sites. Both artworks represent a culmination of the repetitive consumption of consumer products … Over a two-year period, family, friends and staff at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia retrieved plastic from their homes while community networks gleaned waste from degraded landscapes, waterways and beaches, contributing to the artwork. These activities worked to restore balance to ecosystems, highlighting our individual and collective obligation to heal our damaged world.

Berkowitz’s hybrid works are situated between the ‘natural’ and the ‘man-made’. She presents two opposing realms – flourishing life and planetary pollution – to emphasise our precarious reality in the centre. Their tenuous structures reflect the strained co-dependency of nature and humankind for survival.

(1) Written by Moses de León in the 13th century, the Zohar is considered the foundational Kabbalistic text of Jewish mystical thought.