Sometimes it's the little things

Sometimes it's the little things (2019) is a site-responsive installation created for Boxcopy Contemporary Art Space, selected as part of a competitive process to be included in the yearly program. Constructed from timber, plasterboard, screws, plaster, paint, iPad mini, and moving image at a scale of 250 x 240 x 200cm, the work extends Courtney Coombs' ongoing investigation into everyday moments and their potential for connection and transformation. The work depicts video captured during a tour of the Chinati Foundation in Texas, recorded during a Creative Australia-funded road trip exploring Land Art of the United States. This research journey led to a significant realisation that nature was far more impactful than public art, fundamentally shifting Coombs' understanding of scale, monumentality, and environmental engagement. This epiphany informs the conceptual framework of the installation and its emphasis on finding significance in subtle rather than monumental experiences. Coombs built a wall structure within the gallery space using traditional building materials—timber frame, plasterboard, plaster and paint—and inserted an iPad mini displaying moving image at tree height. The deliberate use of domestic construction materials and consumer technology contradicts the monumental materials typically associated with Land Art, while the small-scale iPad presentation requires intimate viewing that counters expectations of spectacular display. The positioning at tree height references natural viewing perspectives, while the constructed wall creates a mediated architectural experience within the gallery. The 2.5-metre height and 2-metre depth create substantial physical presence while the iPad's modest scale ensures the moving image remains deliberately understated, embodying the work's central premise about the power of overlooked moments. The Chinati Foundation video serves as documentary evidence of this transformative research period, capturing the moment when institutional art encountered the vastness of the Texas landscape. The Creative Australia funding enabled this critical research journey that fundamentally altered the artist's approach to scale and environmental engagement within contemporary practice. The site-responsive nature demonstrates methodology developed through this funded Land Art research, showing how specific engagement with place and scale can generate a more meaningful connection than imposed monumental gestures. The title "Sometimes it's the little things" emerged from this work and would later be developed across multiple iterations, demonstrating how supported research-based practice can fundamentally shift artistic perspective toward environmental humility over artistic dominance.<p></p>