artist residency | Oatlands, Tasmania ~ MAY 2024

Airspace, Oatlands

In June, 2024 I spent the month as artist in residence at the Airspace in Oatlands, Tasmania.

I brought with me rolls of kozo paper I had brought from Japan together with some of my own handmade papers. My project was to continue my ongoing project Stone Stories which I began in the Outer Hebrides and Iceland.

While in Oatlands I responded to the sandstone colonial buildings and the history of this town which played a pivotal role during the Black War against the Tasmanian Aborigines in the 1800s.

From the flagstones in the Oatlands Supreme Court building, to the convict chiseled stones in the walls of the studio space, I began making marks in response to the stories held within the stones. I created post-colonial views of the town, framing windows and doors of the sandstone buildings and flagstones floors.

While there I read Lyndall Adam’s book Tasmanian Aborigines: a history since 1803 and Fate of a Free People and Forgotten War by Henry Reynolds. I read stories about the inmates in the Supreme Court. I could not turn away from the brutal past and filled my handmade papers with these lines: I Will Not Turn Away. They became the foundation work (below) which is now in the Southern Midlands Council’s art collection. Each week I wrote a blogpost about my experiences, insights and readings.

Many of the artworks I made feature the lamposts or lamps on the walls. These became meaningful as I approached my subject from a post-colonial viewpoint: to shine a light on the town’s history by using these motifs as portals for the hard conversations we need to have as a nation.