Ash Island has undergone a number of occupations which have shaped both the
occupants and the land. The 20 years of
sheltered life that the Scott sisters enjoyed allowed them to expand their
knowledge and skills into professional careers, which sustained them long after
their departure from the island. While
there is little evidence left of their physical occupation today, their considerable
body of work included a catalogue of local flora and fauna which is now used by
the Kooragang Landcare group to restore the environment at Ash Island.
My art practice tends to deal with a distant world; my landscapes are
from the pages of art, history and myth.
The people who populate my worlds are similarly mythical, or so far
removed in time as to be practically mythical. Rarely do I get to visit the
places that appear in my work or do I deal with figures from relatively recent
history.
Between the shadows and forgetting references a walk I did with the other
artists and the curator Belinda Howden, through a mangrove swamp at Ash Island. It was claustrophobic and eerie, but of
course also captivatingly beautiful. Throughout, environmental degradation
wrought by successive occupations of the land for farming, military and
industrial uses was clearly evident.
In Between the shadows and forgetting, the viewer walks through a short passage of layered
papercutting which evokes the claustrophobic repetitive environment of the
mangrove. Figures emerge from various
repetitive patterns taken from nature and Victorian era illustrations (such as
lace making manuals, catalogues and the work of the Scott Sisters themselves), like
imprints on the landscape. The Scott Sisters’ story is told in remnants and
shadows, for the viewer to get glimpses and suggestions in the way you do when
walking on Ash Island today.
