Fiona Hall and Mercantilism

Mercantilism played a major role in the economic system during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was seen as the way to a nation’s wealth and power with the collection of bullion (large amount of precious metals) and the increasing the exportation of goods whether it be  domestic or foreign, from smaller colonies in which the exploitation of their natural resources were traded for the benefit of the “ mother country” so they could grow economically. The warfare during the 1500-1800's needed this trading method to help maintain the expanding costs of the government, so with the discovery of these trades the increasing interest in the precious metals (bullion); particularly gold, were in huge demand as it was the " ready means" of trade to be able to attain the other goods that were in demand at this time. To accumulate the bullion of a nation, by mercantile law they sought out to buy less and sell more. Money was power and power was in control over the economic life mainly because of all the trading companies, which was secured in the foreign markets as these companies were able to produce high quality goods at the low costs, mercantilism was the fundamentals in which has shaped the way our modern day economic system has been developed.

"Leaf Litter" 2000 Fiona Hall

Fiona Hall’s series of works "Leaf Litter" explores this idea of consumerism and the destruction of natural resources due to commercialisation. She uses bank notes with either endangered or extinct plants from the notes country of origin to help emphasise this idea of how consumerism has affected the natural world and the stabilisation of plants. The bank notes and plants have been placed together to remind people that money is made from paper and paper is made from plants. It's a cycle she clearly communicates and wants to put forward of where this money has come from. It may seem random to put these two subjects together so how she links the contrasting subjects together is the uses of gouache to help create transparency to form this link that money and plants are one.

  "Tender"  2003-05

"Tender" 2003-05 (detail)

In Hall’s work “Tender” 2003-05 it creates a sense of curiosity. The curiosity to see what these nests are made out of, which of course is the American one dollar bill. She emphasises this idea of a natural habitat of a bird (which creates their homes from things that are just lying around) just how we identify money in our culture today. Something we live by. The consumerism of this money has led to destruction of natural habitats as the globalisation of products is increasing more and more. Also with this idea of how birds create their homes with things that are lying around can signify that the one dollar bill is also something just lying around, how today we see insignificance of the small things even though they can impact on an environment drastically with how it takes so many trees to create this insignificant bill and with the disappearance of these trees comes the disappearance of natural life i.e. birds. Proving that her idea that the making of money and the destruction on natural life work side by side without the knowledge of its consumers.

I reckon her ideas and thoughts well communicated with the idea of how a development of a countries wealth are greatly impacted with the growth of the natural world, it’s like saying we cannot have one without the other. The growth of a nation cannot grow if we concentrate on the impact it has on the natural world and the natural world cannot prosper if we continuously expand and deplete these natural resources. So her ideas have been carefully thought of to help us as consumers and viewers to take into consideration that this is what’s happening and what we are using to help our species survive is the destruction of many other species just to satisfy the consumer commodities.



Resources:
ALVC Handbook, Page 34:
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. (2005), Mercantilism.

http://www.createx.com.au/artist-of-substance-fiona-hall/
http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/846/
Fiona Hall secondary Kit PDF, Page 5