Life is Like a Chain | 2022

Original artwork by Sharon Field

Life is like a chain ... every link counts, watercolour, graphite and gouache,16.5cm x 13.5cm (image), 2022. Framed size: 33cm x 27.5cm, black mat and black frame. 

This is a Peron’s Tree Frog (Litoria peronii). I have many of these frogs living in a pond near my house, but I have also discovered a number of dead frogs. I contacted Frog Watch and provided them with photos and the bodies of some of these dead frogs for research. I was told that “the frog you saved for us last year has been incredibly important. So far, we have swabbed and tested the frogs for the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and your specimen came back positive. From the testing of yours and other frogs sent so far, we believe that this fungus is involved but may not be the full story”.
I think that the greater story will relate to the impacts of climate change and the loss of critical areas of habitat for this frog, as for many other animals and plants. There are breaks in this frog’s life chain.
This little frog has been framed in a piece of Victorian mourning jewellery which was used as a tribute or memento to remind the wearer about their love for the person they had lost often including a tribute to the subject - an inscription, their initials, an eternal knot, lock of hair, a cameo or silhouette. SF