All in Environment
How do you imagine the world you want? Pour it with paper art! Creating worlds both big and small during the Dear World event gave people an experience of visualising our planet and an opportunity to tell politicians to protect our planet amidst this climate crisis.
You need to have a creative practice in order to tackle a project no matter how large or small. It’s like being in training for a marathon, getting your body fit and ‘in the zone’ of activity. Sometimes projects have to be shelved until you have time to devote to them. That’s where a foundational practice helps you keep your vision alive, even when it is ‘resting’.
How do we create change in the world? I believe it can start with an idea, and imagining, a dream of how we want life to be. Enacting climate change can seem like an overwhelming concept with so many things out of balance. Yet the image of our ‘blue marble’ planet of swirling greens, blues and white reminds us how precious our dear world is and how we must advocate for its protection.
How to hold the duality of both grief and joy as a human and an artist? It’s a question I ponder each day, especially when life can feel overwhelming. I’m looking at my latest body of work which is not only about drowning, but resurfacing. Or in philosopher Donna Haraway's words "to stay with the trouble".
What the eye sees might be a little different from what a high resolution scanner picks up. Experimenting with photograms on lumen prints means the images are ‘fixed’ through the lens of the digital scanner. While analogue photographic processes are used to create the print, the final image captures what the eye cannot discern. Perhaps it is what the sea sees.
Introducing light into my landscapes has helped sustain me when the world appears to be mired in darkness and destruction. Working with tree images is grounding; their roots deep in the ground, leaves dancing in the light. They inspire me to bring a lightness of being into my creative offerings..
Experimenting can often feel like a waste of time, especially when nothing quite works out like you had hoped. Pushing your materials past their limitations can end up with a total mess. Somewhere in all the chaos there may be a glimpse of a new direction to take. Then you know that all those perceived ‘failures’ were never a waste of time.
I’ve become a passionate advocate for protecting the old growth native forests. Joining the 140 other artists at the Art 4 Takayna forest residency in Tasmania has inspired me to advocate for the trees and all the plant and animal species that live in the forests. These are our wilderness heritage places. I want to know that when I am no longer here on earth, the trees will breathe for me.
When you know that it is time to take action, to ‘walk the talk’ and go out on a limb. Literally! The exciting news is I’m off to takayna/Tarkine in the wild north west of Tasmania to make art about the threatened ancient rainforests in the wilderness. Am I nervous? Hell yeah!
