Digital collage giclee print on silver metallic rag paper, 58.5 x 82 cm, 2022

Out of the flat red earth in the pursuit of riches, white man made White Cliffs by mining for opals, leaving holes in the earth and incidentally creating dug-outs (underground dwellings). Surviving on local lake water they still find opal rich diggings. Too hot to survive summer above ground, many depart until Autumn or live underground.

The red earth supports many low growing small leafed shrubs that cleverly disguise their spiky stems with needle sharp heads hiding behind tiny leaves and flowers.

Walking daily left me with the perception of no fences, no borders, no boundaries, no tared roads, no building codes, few landmarks, just space to show off the red earth, white mounds, black holes, spiky shrubs, emus, kangaroos and endless bird life.

White Cliffs’ historical tip is a treasure trove of remnants from white man’s consumption and waste, rivers of broken bottles sparkling in the sunlight and middens of broken bone china. The plastic bags that escape the tip are trapped on thorns of shrubs becoming wind socks flapping above the red dust.

The traditional owners of this land, the Wandjiwalgu people, are nowhere to be seen.

This landscape demands respect of its every detail. In this emptiness there is so much to celebrate.

I acknowledge Create NSW through West Darling Arts for the Restart Residency funding and their ongoing support.

Digital collage on brushed aluminium, 36 x 120 cm, 2022

Digital collage on brushed aluminium, 36 x 49 cm, 2022

Digital collage on brushed aluminium, 40 x 102 cm, 2021

Digital print on brushed aluminium, 46 x 80 cm edition 3, 2020

Digital print on brushed aluminium, 51 x 125 cm edition 3, 2020.

Digital print on brushed aluminium, 46 x 98 cm edition 3, 2019

…and then a whisper - Wish you were here (Scomo).

After decades of political discussion around climate change and inaction to save our natural environment, a trek through the old growth forest of Cradle Mountain popped the above whisper into my head. This was prior to the summer of the Australian east coast furnace and the global spread of the covid. My immersion in that pristine green, moist, ancient energised culture, where every microscopic and gigantic organism has a purpose, empowered yet humbled my being. I delighted in the days of walking off boardwalk in the mud and feeling every pebble and tree root massaging my ankles with the flexing and rotating of my foot and attempting to keep upright.

Digital print on brushed aluminium, 145 x 54 cm edition 3, 2020.

Digital print on aluminium, 2020.