The Unconquered Sun is a climate dystopia exploring a fictional post-human landscape in augmented reality. Floating in an empty sky, a surreal, arid desert is littered with the artefacts of an unknown future. Degraded fast food packets, abandoned livestock entertained by virtual reality headsets, and failed hydroponic crops are clues indicating humanity’s last attempts at drawing food from the landscape.

The Unconquered Sun references human-driven climate change as a battle between humanity and the sun, and Sol Invictus, a sun god from cults within the Roman Empire. Through her piece, Coldrey questions our dependant relationship with the sun – a giver of life in Earth’s early history and a taker of life in the future if not abated. How might our future mythologies of the sun evolve around a climate catastrophe? Perhaps sun cults may re-emerge, reintroducing reverence and respect for the sun in a final, desperate attempt to continue life on Earth.

Jess is a creative technologist and social scientist with a research-led visual arts practice. Her mechanical assemblages and eye-catching digital pieces facilitate connection through propositions about futurism, sustainability, and the entanglement of techno-social narratives. Her 3D prints, photographs and sculptures are materially nuanced, circulating a playfulness within the critical space of galleries.

Jess’s work has been exhibited at notable shows, including Melbourne Science Gallery and the United Nations’ COP26 conference in Glasgow. She is a past resident at Burrinja Gallery, Yarra Ranges Tech School and the Botanic Gardens of Marnay sur Seine, and a current John Monash Scholar and Laureate of the Australian French Association for Innovation and Research. From robotics and drone selfies winning her the prestigious Agendo Art Prize to her recent fashion project in Paris exploring endometriosis, her art has traversed creativity and engineering to spark new conversations about society.