2021 Collection

Presence and Place

This body of work was produced as creative research into how a sense of ‘Presence’ may be experienced in ‘Place’ in fulfilment of a Creative Arts and Design (Honours) Degree with University of Canberra in 2021.

The Country chosen for the project lies within the homelands of the Wirrayaraay People from the Gamilaraay Nation in North Western NSW. It is also the adopted Country of my Irish ancestors who arrived in the 1860’s as farmer settlers. I acknowledge with deep sadness that the land they selected was made available as a result of the Frontier Wars which led to the dispossession and dispersion of its Traditional Owners, the Wirrayaraay People, earlier in the 19th Century.

This Country is steeped in geological and historical paradigms reaching back into Deep Time. Ochre and rose tinted sandstone outcrops rise randomly from lightly wooded hills enfolding a black basalt valley. A creek winding through the valley provides permanent water. Archeological evidence indicates First Nations people inhabited this country for eight millennia prior to white settlement.