The Appetite of Power

Description

The Appetite for Power presents a confronting metaphor for political power and the systems that sustain it. Parasitic lampreys, their circular mouths suggestive of relentless consumption, are superimposed over the interior of Parliament House. The juxtaposition transforms a symbol of democratic government into a landscape of extraction, where those entrusted with public responsibility appear instead to feed from the institution itself.

For Rose Marinelli, the lampreys represent bloodsucking politicians — figures who, in the pursuit of power and personal advantage, consume public resources while remaining attached to the structures that enable them. Their presence suggests an insatiable appetite, one that grows through continued access to influence, privilege and authority.

The contrast between the organic forms of the lampreys and the ordered architecture of Parliament House creates a tension between the appearance of institutional stability and the behaviour operating within it. The building represents the machinery of governance; the parasites suggest what can happen when that machinery becomes a means of self-preservation rather than public service.

Through vivid colour, layered textures and unsettling biological imagery, the work turns political criticism into a visual allegory. The lampreys become symbols of a system in which consumption can be disguised as participation, and self-interest can exist beneath the formal appearance of public duty.

The Appetite for Power asks a pointed question: when those entrusted with serving the public become consumed by the pursuit of power, who is left to bear the cost?