Mosses and Marshes is now 10 days out from opening its first showing at Qube Gallery, Oswestery UK on 1 October. Since July, there’s been a growing intensity around the development of words, sounds, and images around this project, that’s had my UK collaborator Andrew Howe and me in daily communication. It’s the time for details.Continue reading “Simply start where you are when art-making is a crushing chore”
Tag Archives: digital media
The solace of creativity in times of crisis
At 5pm on Saturday 14 August, the State of New South Wales went into a COVID-19-responsive lockdown. The regional City of Dubbo and its local government area had already been under stay at home orders for three days on the back of growing active COVID cases; the region’s Indigenous population dangerously exposed. Sydney, our StateContinue reading “The solace of creativity in times of crisis”
12 months on
On a warm weekend at the end of February 2021, I returned to the Macquarie Marshes to spend a night on “Burrima” – almost 12 months to the weekend since I made my first field recording trip. READ Silent symphony: the “Burrima” baseline, February 2020 I have a sharp memory of that first visit, campingContinue reading “12 months on”
A tale of two rivers
The Galari/Lachlan River is the fourth-longest river in Australia. It flows through the lands of the Wiradyuri, Nari Nari and Yita Yita Nations starting on the Breadalbane Plains near Goulburn (696m above sea level), terminating at the Great Cumbung Swamp near Oxley on the Hay Plains (about 70m above sea level). The river is consideredContinue reading “A tale of two rivers”
Giving the Galari her voice
Just as Pulse of the Wetland was getting underway this year, I was given the news that my application for a 2020 residency with the CORRIDOR project (tCp) near Cowra was successful. It was March, and the world was in the midst of panicking about a pandemic; no one really knew what was ahead andContinue reading “Giving the Galari her voice”
Finding common ground
…it’s very pretty – one of the words that (with) landscapes we don’t use enough of… ERIC FISHER, FORMER MARSH GRAZIER, “Wilgara” Quambone Over the past six months of working on Pulse of the Wetland, I’ve been collecting stories from people who have a connection to the Marshes. It’s been a mix of identifying individualsContinue reading “Finding common ground”
Hidden sounds of the Marshes
When water returns to a wetland, you expect it to bring the sounds of life — insects, frogs and birds in full song, the trickle of water, wind in the treetops and shuffling through the reeds. You hear these things as soon as you step into the landscape. And so it was on my recentContinue reading “Hidden sounds of the Marshes”
Stories can shape the future
I’ve been telling and sharing people’s stories since my uni days of the late 1980s when I became a reporter, then editor, of the student newspaper. During my time as an ABC Radio Rural Reporter in the 1990s, I saw the radio connect people across a vast area of inland NSW; it was the storiesContinue reading “Stories can shape the future”
The autumnal crescendo
As the chill of winter touched the Western Plains, I headed north again for another weekend in the Macquarie Marshes. It was early May. This was to be a quick, overnight trip to document another stage in what I hoped to be the wetland’s recovery from years of drought. …the silence of the cold autumnContinue reading “The autumnal crescendo”
Marking time
I’ve started to lose track of how many days I’ve been at home now as part of our contribution to the Covid19 containment measures. Each day is much the same and much like the day before. Mind you, the only real difference to pre-Covid times is my week is no longer punctuated by coffees andContinue reading “Marking time”