Jelena Sinik

Animation Director, Artist & Illustrator

42°C

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42°C is a tactile multimedia artwork that utilises analogue photographic processes and stop-motion animation. Each leaf (frame) is placed in direct sunlight whereby the process of chlorophyll printing occurs, and the sun’s UV burns an image directly into the leaf.

 

Flying foxes are Australia’s only nocturnal long-distance pollinators and seed dispersers and are crucial to the ecosystem. While humans enjoy the luxury of escaping the heat, bats can suffer from burns, heat stroke and dehydration when temperatures exceed 42°C.

 

With prolonged summers, extreme UV and unrelenting heat, heatwaves are the invisible killer of tens of thousands of bats, causing mass-mortality events for Australian wildlife. The artwork unfolds sonically over the progression of one hot day, embodying the experience of living through the climate crisis in Australia today.

This film was created in collaboration with Carl Stewart.

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Finalist, Gosford Art Prize 2026, AUS.

(+Exhibition in Gosford Regional Gallery, 25 September - 24 November).

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Finalist, Northern Beaches Environmental Art & Design Prize 2026, AUS.(+Exhibition in Manly Art Gallery & Museum, 7 August - 20 September).

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