Over the past few months its been head down back in the studio with a mountain of research under my belt and an extraordinary task ahead ; to translate the riches into a creative response.
My hands are catching up on lost time. Absolutely immersed in experimentation with materials and techniques that carry meaning. Limbering up the fine muscles to find that nuance, the sweet spot of making, the flow. I have been carrying around and enormous bone collection, seemingly for all my making life, waiting for the right body of work to meet the incredible sense of reverence I have developed for them. Collected from beaches and roadsides and arid landscapes, gifted by well-intentioned friends and acquaintances many many years ago.. This residency hits the mark. Carrick Hill Estate includes the most beautiful remnant native Grey Box Grassy woodland, about 29 hectares ring the property. Unceded lands of the Kaurna people, also once dairy farm land.
I’m beginning my response working from the outside in… my making journey has begun with the bush and will culminate in the house itself. Referencing the past land use over time. Out come the miraculous scapula and tibia from a dairy cow, beast of burden from Paris Creek (2000) and kangaroo tibia and ribs from Kangaroo Island (2010). Sacred bones, arranged to speak of past, present and a hopeful future, beyond this artis’s life span.
