Walk the Talk

Standing in front of my Forest Floor painting from 2022 at BigCi artist residency, Bilpin, NSW.

When you have that light-bulb moment… You suddenly realise that many roads have led you to be on the path you are now on.

That’s what I felt this week when I got the email saying I was on the team for the Art 4 Takayna Residency in Northwest of Lutruwita, Tasmania. I was so excited I spent the next day organising my transport to get there, several flights, buses and an overnight stay in Devonport. Boggling logistics but I was on a mission!

I had filled in a form to participate in the Art 4 Takayna at the beginning of March after hearing a talk by artist Bronwyn Davies about her exhibition Maps and Traces at Scenic Rim, QLD. She was sharing her experience of trees and the Takayna forest. I had already been to the Art 4 Takayna exhibition when I was in Tasmania in June 2024 and listened to Dr Bob Brown inspiring people to “Take Action" which I wrote about in my blog post Keeping Hope Alive.

I thought now is the time! If I keep writing and making art about environmental destruction, I should heed Dr Brown’s mantra “Don’t get angry, get active”. But I was full of trepidation. Could I take on such a wild project in the middle of the wilderness. Would I be fit and able?

While at the Bronwyn Davies exhibition, I talked to a woman had also been to the Takana protest site a few years ago. She said there was some accommodation available and it wasn’t all camping. Reassured by her recommendation, I signed the form and sent it off.

Then this week I got the email saying I was now part of the volunteer team. Yay! I sent off my reply and asked about the accommodation and the procedures for artists. The next day I had a phone call letting me know that I might have got my wires a bit crossed. That all accommodation was in various forest sites. It was BYO camping gear. Next week they would send a list of what to bring to survive in the wilderness for a week. Was I still coming?

Hell yeah! I was now a part of an important team supporting others and making art. I was going to be sleeping out under the stars and not in a hut. I was going to experience the amazing Takayna alongside seasoned campaign protesters.

Everything had contrived to get me to go to the wilderness even though I thought I wouldn’t be ready. It was only nine months ago that I had my knee surgery. Now I can’t wait to strap on my backpack and ‘walk my talk’.

I have my Proect Native Forests T-shirt, a tent and a sleeping bag and all the thermal under garments from my trips to Iceland and Greenland. Of course I needed new hiking boots which, as it happened were on sale at the camping place I stumbled upon while out shopping. I’m hoping for good weather over Easter, but packing for the wet and cold. Just in case, I bought a drawstring ‘wet protection’ bag to store my clothes in.

Now more than ever I need to be where I can amplify the imperative of forest protection, especially in the lead up to the Federal Election. I never went to Tasmania for the Franklin River blockade back in the 1980s. This is my time!

Walking the Talk (but feeling a bit nervous) with my new hiking boots