Audio descriptions for the Open Borders, Regional Arts Triennial exhibition at John Curtin Gallery.

OPEN BORDERS 2023

Lyndall Watson - Soft Edges

‘Soft Edges’, 2022, by Lyndall Watson, is made from digitally printed yarn and embroidery cotton, the size of the artwork is 50 x 42cm. This artwork is a woven tapestry, with the words soft edges printed on the surface. Installed on the wall at eye level, the tapestry consists of earth toned coloured yarn and embroidery thread. The work features an orange rectangular shape approximately 20 x 40 cm, printed with words ‘Soft Edges’ in black. The orange shape sits roughly in the centre of the larger rectangle the makes up the border of the artwork. The orange rectangle is surrounded by mainly grey and brown earth tones, interspersed with white. There is a large section of white above the orange rectangle located towards the middle/left hand top of the piece. A small portion of burgundy red, surrounded by a light grey sits to the right of the white section. The top right hand section is a mixture of different greys speckled with white. Running down the sides and below the rectangle the colours are more browns interspersed with small flecks of a pinkish orange colours. Loose bits of yarn, that are about five to ten centimetres in length are seen, randomly through the work. They are predominantly towards the base and the edges of the work, and none obscure the printed words. The coloured yarns of the weaving run horizontally creating the warp of the tapestry. When we get close to the work we see that there are smaller vertical stiches of coloured thread. Orange around the border of the orange rectangle, light grey stiches making up the grey colour around the burgundy patch, and a patch of cream below the rectangle.

The artist works in woven textiles, blending digital printing techniques with traditional crafts of weaving, embroidery, and quilting. As a secondary school art teacher, the artist drives considerable distances from her home near Walpole. In her drives she observes the ubiquitous country road sign declaring ‘soft edges’. Twisting the practical meaning,  the artwork responds to borders both perceived and real. In her teaching the artist finds that imaginary borders are placed on ideas, and that there is a duty to make these imaginary borders visible, as life exists in soft edges, in the contradictory mess of it all.

Lyndall Watson

Monique Tippett  - Borders 1-3

‘Borders 1 - 3’ (triptych), 2022, by Monique Tippett,  is made from solid jarrah and aluminium, the three pieces that make up the artwork are 83 x 45cm each in size. The artwork features three rectangular pieces of wood, that are light grey and charcoal black in colour. These sections of jarrah look like the thick bark of a very large tree that has suffered fire damage. These rectangular pieces have one piece of fluorescent red aluminium tape wrapping around each of the shapes. The tape is about 2cm wide and crosses the sections of wood in different places. On the left hand piece the red tape runs horizontally across the wood, about three quarters of the way down its length. On the middle piece, the tape starts about a third of the way down, cuts across the length diagonally, before wrapping around the side of the piece about a third of the way up from the bottom. With the right hand piece of wood the tape runs vertically down the right hand side about 5cm from the edge. With each piece the tape makes a sharp corner when it reaches the side of the jarrah, these corners are more pronounced in the left and right hand portions. These bright pieces of red metal reference the florescent tape that is used by loggers, mining and industry to mark out trees. The tape, scattered throughout the forests of the Southwest of Western Australia, is used to mark trails. They act as way finders, as markers for destruction, as well as salvation.

The artist uses her wooden sculptural and wall-based artworks to raise awareness of the urgent need to protect our forests and to inspire a deeper appreciation for the natural world.  She explores the concept of open and closed borders, through this human tagging of nature. The bright lines of colour across these natural timber surfaces illuminate the way humans carve up the environment with our plans and maps.

Monique Tippett

Nikki Green - Koi Kyeunu-ruff: A Brutal Perspective on an Ancient Range

‘Koi Kyeunu-ruff: A Brutal Perspective on an Ancient Range’, 2022, by Nikki Green, is a digital print on vinyl wallpaper, the size of the work is 90 x 300cm. The artwork is a panorama of a soft hued mountain range viewed through a series of sharp geometric shapes. The mountain range depicted is Koi Kyeunu – ruff ( the Stirling Ranges) which means mist moving around mountains in the Mineng and Goreng Noongar language. The ghost-like range is made from undulating soft purples, the sky soft greys, and the ground is patchy soft browns and creams. With only one small tree peeking into the far right corner of the piece with a subtle splash of green.  The small tonal and colour differences, like those found in a faded map, reflect the harsh light of the Australian sun washing out colours in the landscape. In stark contrast the structure that contains the landscape is all sharp angles and polygon shapes, but also like a map contains fold lines. Instead of a soft meander across a distant horizon, our eyes are thrust along a series of abrupt angular shapes, increasing and decreasing sharply, creating an illusionary sense of depth for the viewer to go in and out. These shapes are delineated by fold marks at their lowest and highest points. The shapes are 90cm at their maximum and roughly 10 cm at their most narrow. If we start from the left we encounter a slightly tapering rectangle, followed by a diamond, we then are met with an off centre polygon, a sharper diamond, a low polygon, a sharper polygon that is almost a diamond, another off centre polygon and end with sharply increasing rectangle. The contrast between the soft landscape within a hard-edge geometric frame makes us think of the title of the piece ‘ A Brutal perspective on an Ancient Range’. The style known as Brutalist architecture commonly makes use of exposed, unpainted concrete or brick, angular geometric shapes and a predominantly monochrome colour palette. We see the chosen shapes and this subdued colour scheme reflected in the work.

The artist uses contemporary and traditional printmaking processes, to explore the layers of the landscape of Koi Kyeunu-ruff.  Photographically stitched in Photoshop the range is set within a series of polygon shaped hand printed lino blocks. The range forms a strong physical border running for 100 kms through the ancient landscape of the Great Southern. The artist’s awareness of the vulnerability of the environment underpins her art practice and she seeks to express the grounding spirit of the land in her work. Inspired by Brutalist architecture, this startling backdrop of concrete-like enfolding spaces, form a warped sense of perspective, symbolising our human stamp on our more-than-human-world, perpetuating the message of our footprint on what once was without borders.

Nikki Green

Marcia Leonard - Asterope, Maia and Taygeta

‘Asterope, Maia and Taygeta’, 2023, by Marcia Leonard, is a digital print on brushed aluminium, the artwork is 60 x 60 x 5cm. The artwork is one in a series of five circular digital prints on a metal squares. All the prints feature parts of the Hakea Laurina tree on a black background. The artist has used lumen photography to capture segments of the native flora. They have placed flowers, seeds and foliage on a piece of silver gelatin paper and then exposed it to the sun to create an image on the photographic paper. In this piece the focus is on a bright shape in the lower righthand section of the black circle. The shape has a glowing white centre , surrounded by a golden yellow on one side and a luminous reddish brown on the other side, this is all encircled by a fluffy lavender and a light green. The shape has the appearance of a Hakea flower, but we also think of the title of the piece ‘Asterope, Maia and Taygeta’ which references three stars of the Pleiades seven star cluster. The shape suddenly becomes a star in the night sky, and as we contemplate the other leaf like marks in the circle we imagine they are light trails of moving stars in the dark sky. In the top half of the circle we see three whitish lines and two lavender. One white streak is located in the top left hand section, the other two white trails are near the righthand, cross each other, with one leading our eyes down to the bright sun. The two feathery lavender marks meet in a V above the focal point, but appear further away in the night sky. More soft lavender marks start to the right of the glowing sun , they branch around the flower shape. One forms a bright line cutting across the shape, and the other arcs below to meet a trio of lines flaring out of the bottom of the circle. The other four prints in the series of five, contain views of the Pleiades in the night sky. These have been created by placing the Hakea vegetation into different configurations on the photographic paper before exposing it to the sun.

The artist works across a range of media, in her art practice they explore the reimagining of sites, landscapes, and objects, viewing them as narratives and symbols of place, self,  transformation, and renewal. She is interested in the connection between science and art, process driven work that also has an element of chance. She uses the Hakea Laurina plant, known as kodjet or kojet in the Noongar language to illuminate the significance of the Pleiades to different cultures. Known also as the seven sisters, the Pleiades has significance to Aboriginal people, and  resonates with the artist’s Greek heritage. The name of the cluster of stars plus the individual star names are from ancient Greek. Stories connect people and cultures across the world, as does the night sky. The stars connect us across time, when looking at the stars now, we are looking back in time, into the past. The uncertainty in the early months of the pandemic inspired the artist to look beyond borders and restrictions to find points of connection between individuals, communities and place. The artist believes the Pleiades' narrative resonates personally, because it reminds her of the interconnectedness of human experiences that go beyond physical and cultural boundaries.

Marcia Leonard

Kate Alida Mullen Audio Description
Kate Alida Mullen - The Snake Way Home 
The Snake Way Home, 2022-23 by Kate Mullen, materials include bronze, ceramic, hand-dyed bamboo thread and natural pigments on canvas drop sheet, the size of the artwork is approximately 275cm x 212cm. This artwork features a canvas drop sheet that starts off discoloured at the top with random smudges of yellow and dirt and gets progressively darker and dirtier as it reaches the ground. These marks are the result of the canvas being buried in a creekbed (where the Jingarmup Brook meets the Indian Ocean on the Cape Naturaliste Peninsula, Wardandi Country, South West). The canvas was tied to an over-hanging melaleuca branch and weighed down with river stones before being left to marinade in the merging of tannic, gushing fresh waters and sparkling, briny tides. After several multi-day submersions, the canvas was left to dry and residual markings of the currents and sediments fixed upon it. Attached to the canvas are roughly forty small bronze and ceramic objects. The work acts like a map. The artist collected pieces, ‘fallen fragments’, of nature on her journey back to Western Australia after being caught in isolation on the East Coast. She also asked her friends from all over Australia to send pieces of the natural environment to her home in Eagle Bay, Western Australia. The collection of elements amassed from the many Indigenous Nations around Australia that the artist had passed through include: leaves, reeds, driftwood, bark, nuts, seeds, herbs, sea sponge, shells and bulbs of resin. These were then used to create the small bronze and ceramic objects. The placement of these objects on the canvas drop sheet relates to their geographical place of origin, forming a map of Australia’s body. For example, the object that is shaped like a boab seed is a direct cast of a boab nut that was gifted to the artist by her friend and Gija leader Gabriel Nodea of Warmun community in the East Kimberley, where the artist spent time working and living. The cast of this boab nut is placed relatively in the ‘northern’ area of the canvas to represent the artist’s time on Gija Country. These forty small objects placed around the canvas, range in size from approximately twenty centimetres to one centimetre. They sometimes appear in groups or stand-alone like a bronze casting of a stick. Some of the objects look like beaten pieces of flat metal, the surfaces pockmarked, and others are smooth like polished stones. The top of the canvas sheet wraps around a metal rod, the work hangs suspended from the rod cascading towards the ground, it ends by pooling over a low wide plinth. Kate Alida Mullen is interested in the subtle, layered histories of places. Through her multidisciplinary art practice and work as a curator and writer, Mullen investigates and listens for, the seen and unseen. In ‘the Snake Way Home’ the artist maps her journey back to her home after being isolated on the East Coast, after border restrictions. She documents this unexpected two-year drift traversing many Nations. Mullen retraces something of the living imprints of each of the landscapes she took refuge in over this historical passage in time.

Kate Alida Mullen

Jodie Groves - Journey of Reminiscence

‘Journey of Reminiscence’, 2022, by Jodie Groves, is an interactive wall installation, made from wool thread, international place names, suitcase,  and black wall screws, the size of the artwork is 360 x 210cm. This interactive artwork features 105 names of countries and a corresponding 105 large black wall screws, on a large white board installed at eye height in landscape orientation. An open suitcase sits below the white board, on the floor of the gallery, filled with coloured yarn. Participants are asked to use the coloured wool thread supplied to map out the countries they have visited. They attach the thread to a large black screw that represents a certain country and then move to other countries they have visited, winding the thread around each new country, before tying off the thread at the last place. The white board, with names and screws starts empty. Then as people engage with the work it slowly fills with colour, becoming like a giant tapestry of movement on the wall.

The artist works across a range of materials, including encaustic and textiles, embracing the process of transformation. The new rules and restrictions which were implemented to manage the COVID-19 pandemic generated, for many, a sense of nostalgia for how things used to be. The closure of borders and the cessation of travel led the artist to remember her own previous travels. This installation is designed to produce a rich tapestry of travel recollections. Symbolised by the coloured line, participants connect with countries they have visited, reminiscing of travels undertaken and initiating conversations of shared experiences.

Jodie Groves

Template for Audio Description


Helen Seiver – The Nullagine River

‘The Nullagine River’ 2023  by HELEN SEIVER, is made from a found blanket and assorted threads, the size of the artwork is 190 x 170 cm. This artwork features a grey wool blanket acting as background, with a river made from embroidered coloured threads that meanders diagonally across the surface of the blanket. The shape references the Nullagine River, from the Pilbara region of Western Australia. From a distance the river looks predominantly red but as we get near we see the river is made from a number of different earth tone threads. Curving gently through the grey landscape the river is formed from shades of red, brown and purple. Thin embroidered threads come off the main body of the river to form what look like tributaries,  but are threads of conversations and thoughts. On one side of the river positive, these are indicated by warm colours, and negative on the other side indicated by the cooler colours like purple. The artwork has been hung suspended out from the wall and loose coloured threads can be seen dangling at its base, these threads come from the back of the work.  The tangle of threads at the back represent the tangle of conversations and thoughts both positive and negative.
The artist uses this river as a natural border, as a motif for exploration of psychological and cultural borders. In her practice she explores personal narrative through sculpture, painting and installation. As with many of her artworks, this piece incorporates recycled materials with a time-consuming and meditative process. Weaving together two stories, this work uses the shape of the Nullagine river to reference the framing/creation of psychological boundaries of making art within personal context. Through intentional processes the artist attempts to untangle and re-weave the story by darning, repairing , making whole, healing and cleansing.
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Helen Seiver

Elisa Markes-Young - Thinking of Blue Almonds

‘Thinking of Blue Almonds’, 2023, by Elisa Markes – Young, is made from hand embroidery, appliqué, sequins and bugles on tulle, the size of the artwork is approximately 1000 x 270 cm. The artwork consists of a cascade of light gossamer material that has been hand appliqued with small patches of  sequins, bugles (long thin beads) and small pieces of layered tulle and fabric in various shades of blue.  There are opaque pieces of material formed from machine knitted cotton and sheer patches made from several layers of light blue tulle. Many of the patches are different shiny metallic colours. They include many shades of blue including; turquoise blue, a purplish blue and pastel blue. There are also areas made from gold. The small patches are about five to ten centimetres long and vary in shape from rough ovals, teardrop, oblongs and thin long rectangles. The artwork is suspended from plastic rods at the top of the wall the material is overlapped at the top of the artwork, then cascades gracefully down the wall. There are four layers, these layers separate as they fall with the top layers falling straight , the bottom two layers are pulled and pinned away from the top layers to the right. This creates a flowing fold of a fabric behind the straight fall of the upper layers. The shapes are spaced about twenty to thirty centimetres throughout the tulle and appear as if they are floating on the material, like clouds floating in the sky. This references the artist’s background with the Polish word for blue derived from the word for the sky or heaven. The sown shapes not only drift around each other they also create a dance of shadows on the fabric and the wall behind. Soft swatches of embroidered material float between the shadows and shiny shapes. The title of the piece ‘Thinking of blue almonds' is the translation of a Polish phrase describing daydreaming. ‘Blue almonds’ are a fantasy.  

The artist delves into her memories and cultural background to create works tinged with nostalgia.  Her ‘cultural melancholia’ has mixed emotions – sadness at what has been lost, but happiness about having had the experience.  In ‘Thinking of Blue Almonds’ the artist plays with the idea that thoughts are free and cannot be contained, no matter what borders are imposed.  The scraps of fabric reflect memories: none are complete and so much is missing. The artist believes the ‘heavenly’ colour blue itself is a mystery. She proposes, ‘ it’s the colour that retreats from us most; the colour of distance; of there seen from here; of where you’re not. The colour of desire, the sublime forever out of reach’.

Elisa Markes-Young

Elizabeth Edmonds- Flagged

‘Flagged’, 2022, by Elizabeth Edmonds, the materials include ink on rice paper with pigment and wax on board, the size of the artwork is 114 x 46 x 1 cm. The artwork features a detailed drawn image of a tree on white background. The tree has a few thin lines of bright yellow paint mixed with wax that start on the left hand side of the trunk they merge together as they move around to form one line, and another line of colour dips down to form a loop. The yellow lines look as if they are wrapping the trunk of the tree,  like a piece of yellow string or tape is encircling the trunk. Installed on the wall the work is the size of a long thin rectangular window, it sits slightly out from the wall as it is one centimetre thick. As we get close we realise the tree is different shades of grey, this is the result of layers of  clear wax being applied to the surface of the picture in different sections. The detailed drawing set against the white rice paper background gives the artwork a meditative gentle feel,  like a Chinese ink drawing. This artistic study of a tree reflects the artists interest in science as a palaeoecologist. She is trained to use small bits of information to piece together a bigger picture, her works depict expansive wild spaces in its broadest and simplest tones as well as detailed drawn subjects. The bright yellow of the tape wrapping the tree, attracts our eyes in this mostly monochrome drawing. We think of the title of the piece ‘Flagged’, the tree has been marked , divided from the landscape. Flagging tape is frequently used in the natural landscape to identify, navigate, communicate, reserve and plan. Flagging tape can also represent conflicting choices. Trees are marked for many reasons, for protection, others are earmarked for roadside clearing or as a fire boundary, or identification for something special nearby.

Elizabeth Edmonds

Cat Tink  - OPEN BORDERS OPEN SEASON 

‘OPEN BORDERS OPEN SEASON’, 2022, by Cat Tink, materials include a metal car door with acrylic window and LED light strip affixed inside, the size of the artwork is 126 x 106 x 16cm. The artwork features a white metal car door with a black map of Australia, and an acrylic window painted with a fox, the window is lit from LED blue light fixed inside the door. The  map of Australia is painted roughly in the middle of the car door and is about 40 x 40 cm. The map has six bullet holes, three are in the eastern states, one is shot through the Northern Territory and two are placed in Western Australia. Another stray bullet hole is found off the northern coast of Western Australia. There are other signs of damage, represented by a series of some crumpling and scratches to the door panel. There a series of six short horizontal brown scratches running up the door panel, these look as if the car has scraped a pole or fence post, taking the top white layer of paint off the door to reveal the brown beneath. The door frame is missing a door handle, rear vision mirror,  rubber and plastic accessories. What we see is the rivet holes and indents where these features would once have been attached. The fox is painted white on the acrylic window, we see only their body and head facing towards the front of the car, we are looking at a left hand front passenger door, so the fox looks like he has hitched a ride. The lighting of the window produces a feeling that we are looking at the fox at night. It gives the piece a slightly eerie or uneasy feeling , like when we catch the site of a fox or wild animal at night in the glare of headlights. 

The artist is passionate about the arts within communities, mentoring children and adults in her role as an art teacher, and contributing to the local Ravensthrope arts organisation ‘Raveaboutarts’. This piece highlights that lack of borders that feral animals -namely the Red Fox – have in Australia. The artist uses the car door as a metaphor to indicate that Foxes have been given the keys to go anywhere they wish. She has worked with community organisations to track the fox in pristine wilderness using trail cameras also capturing the presence of mallee fowl, echidnas and the Western Quoll which is classed as vulnerable.

CatTink

Betty Bundamurra – Hunting for the animals

‘Hunting for the animals’, 2022, by Betty Bundamurra, is made from natural pigment on paper, the size of the artwork is 57 x 76cm. This artwork created in an illustrative style depicts a busy traditional scene of figures and animals in a bush setting. It features a yellow ochre background with seven long thin figures spaced evenly around the artwork. Three of these figures are red ochre in colour, they are dotted with white ochre and lined with black to create skirts, long hair, and traditional bags. Two of the red figures are located to the far left of the picture, one is positioned above the other and the third is located two thirds along the bottom of the frame. The other four figures are black ochre, these figures are dotted with white ochre and lined with white to create skirts, long hair and traditional bags. Three of the black figures are in the top half of the painting and the fourth is located in the bottom right corner. These figures appear to be both women and Kira Kiro spirits. They look as if caught in joyful motion with some of their arms uplifted, hair swaying,  some of the backs are bent in movement. The figures are surrounded by animals, painted mainly in white with red ochre and black detailing. These animals include two lizards, a snake, an echidna, a bush turkey, a turtle, a Barramundi, and a dog. There is also an emu with a white body, face and legs with red ochre feathers dotted with white. Five white shapes with black marks, and four black shapes with zigzag lines are scattered throughout the scene, these depict rocks after rain. There are also tufts of grey grass, some with white flowers placed randomly around the picture. There is an overall sense of richness and a connection to country.

The artist is a prolific artist, storyteller and poet from Kalumburu. Along with other community elders, she established the Kira Kiro Artists in 2009 to represent artists from her area. Their involvement with Waringari Aboriginal Arts demonstrates the way in which Waringarri fosters artistic activity across language groups, moving across cultural borders.

The artist describes the scene ‘ Women hunting and gathering the animals. Animals hiding in the hedges and animal tracks of all the animals following their friends. Spirits too talk normally around pools and rock areas. Kira Kiro are planting during the rain season dragging their long hair while dropping seeds.’

Betty Bundamurra

Melissa Boughey – Audio description


Melissa Boughey – Body in Repose(obscure, veil, overlay)

‘Body in Repose(obscure, veil, overlay)’, 2022,  by Melissa Boughey, is an oil on canvas, the size of the artwork is 135 x 110cm. This window sized oil painting, features the layering of different shades of blues, browns, greyish green, pink, white and flesh tones. 

The work is hung on the wall at eye level in a portrait orientation and as we study the artwork we begin to see connections to its title; the obscuring, veiling and overlaying. The painting comprises energetic broad brushstrokes, which vary in direction sometimes horizontal and other times vertical. These abrupt strokes break the painting into shapes and sections. In the top half of the picture, a pale sky blue on the left and turquoise blue on the right have been overlayed with a reddish brown tint, redolent of the red dirt of Central Australia and also in a striped horizontal movement that is suggestive of a gorge or mountain range. These were significant places for her subject.

This section has been interrupted randomly by streaks of vertical white, symbolic of the simplified form of white ghost gum trunks and spirit forms. A dark blue zigzags across a greenish blue background in the right hand middle segment. A section of greyish green erupts from the bottom righthand corner and also a similar shape is found three quarters of the way down the left side of the artwork. The artist was considering the colours and patterns of the Moroccan textiles of the burial cloth and other shapes in the room.

Reddish brown zigzags over a flesh tone in the bottom left hand corner.  Smaller gestures of pink, scrawl across flesh tones in a middle portion at the bottom of the painting. There is a fleshy splotchy shape that is located just south and to the right of the centre of the painting, which suggest elements of the body in repose. The shapes float above the push and pull of the paint below.

The artist is usually inspired by the landscape. Through her energetic gestural marks she expresses, both the wild and tamed aspect of  nature though her close daily interactions of living and working on a farm in Denmark, Western Australia. 

This work, one in a series of four, reflects her experience and feelings about the intensely personal experience of witnessing her close friend’s death. She was honoured to be present when her friend, passed between life and death; the ultimate border. 

Following  a period of inertia, the artist eventually began painting, trusting the process. With oil stick she began with a gestural memory drawing of her friend lying in repose from the perspective of the end of the bed, particularly focused on the underside of the chin and foreshortened features, she then subtly erased, obscured, and layered using personal cues and references, so that only a hint of the original drawing remains. The artist found the process cathartic, saying ‘these works freed me’.

Melissa Boughey

Amelia Blanco – Audio Description

Amelia Blanco – Metal Trees Don’t Grow

‘Metal Trees Don’t Grow’, 2022, by Amelia Blanco, is made from steel wire, the size of the artwork is 70 x 50 x 40 cm. The artwork features a sculpture in the form of a tree sitting on a white plinth at waist height. The tree made from steel wire looks bent and tortured it’s branches ending in bristly leaves. The roots coming from the base of the tree and surrounding it are bent upwards from the earth as if wary of the soil or searching for water. The sculpture sits out from the wall, a strong light shining onto the tree casts a large shadow of the sculpture on the wall behind. As we study the shadow we notice that the roots on the tree create the words HELP in the shadow cast on the wall behind. The artist is from Port Hedland, a place that is wholly driven by the mining and the export of iron ore for steel production. The artist uses steel to express their concern for her community and the effect that mining is doing to growth in her home town.

The artist takes inspiration from her three simultaneous careers in, videography and photography, lighting design for events and as a mechanic. They see the opportunities and limitations that mining has offered the young people in her community. Blanco has overcome barriers and borders by pursuing education and work in other places, before returning home to her multi-generational family. She enjoys drawing on all her skills in her art, focusing on movement, light and shadow.

Amelia Blanco

Andrew Bowman – Bright - Avarice + Truthfulness

‘Avarice + Truthfulness’ , 2022, by Andrew Bowmen – Bright, is made from a printed canvas (the game) and a wooden ladder, the size of the artwork is 280 x 280 cm for the canvas and 214 x 40 x 6 for the wooden ladder. The artwork consists of a human size version of the game Snakes and Ladders attached to the wall, and a wooden ladder that sits in front leaning on the game. The printed game is made of squares that are yellow, red and grey. These squares of colour alternate randomly through the canvas. All the squares are numbered from 1 to 100, starting in the bottom left hand corner, running to the right across the canvas to 10, before preceding to 11 in the square above.  Then moving across the canvas to the left to 20, before moving to 21 above. This process of moving horizontally, zigzagging up the canvas proceeds to end in square 100 at the top left hand corner. Based on the original version of Snakes and Ladders created in ancient India and known as Moksam Patam. This large version contains twenty one of the squares that have text and images linked to positive and negative attributes or behaviours. Eight yellow Ladders are linked to positive behaviours like kindness and truthfulness, indicating when we land on these we progress in the game. Thirteen red and yellow snakes are connected to negative attributes like selfishness and depravity, these indicate we would move backward in the game of life. 

This work comes from the cultural renaissance which is happening in small Mid West  communities through North Midlands Project. Bowman-Bright works across several fronts, in caring for the town and region’s history, while also playing a role in creating opportunities for individual and community expression. North Midlands Project challenges stereotypes of identity in the by giving voice to diversity. This version of Snakes and Ladders, is an enlarged reproduction of an edition from the collection of the Carnamah Historical Society & Museum. It conveys the social borders which can exist for an individual or in a community. The placement of the wooden ladder against the boardgame conveys a sense of hope by offering a way to climb over these barriers of judgement. The artist poses the question that whether they are positive or negative, all behaviours have the potential to restrict, constrain and create walls within us.

Andrew Bowman-Bright

Tina Carmody – Spring in Our Country.
‘Spring in Our Country’, 2022, by Tina Carmody, materials and techniques include pyrography, carving, etching and acrylic on board, the size of the artwork is 100 x 60cm. The artwork is a wooden board depicting the abundance of life and vibrancy in the desert in springtime. The piece is about the size of a window and has been installed on the gallery wall at eye height in a portrait orientation. The work is divided into three sections, two smaller portions about 25cm wide surround the larger middle segment. There has been a variety of techniques being used over the surface to create illustrative shapes and patterns. The top section is a made from multiple layers of paint and mark making. The bottom layer of the top section, contains a washy pattern of pale yellow, red and greys. This pattern has been overlayed with a light dry brushing of a deep blue. The blue has been applied in wavy sections over the bottom layer to create, a rippling effect, with lighter thin bands running through the deeper blue. We get the feeling of water. Black circles surrounded by white dotting are placed randomly throughout this dark blue section, looking like bubbles erupting through the surface of water. The black circles and most of the black marks on the wooden board have been created by pyrography, by burning marks into the wooden surface. The focus of the top section is an aqueous shape with a mushroom like top, created using dotted burn marks. The shape made from hundreds of small burn dots spreads from the top portion of the artwork into the top of the middle section. 
Seven long black lines, representing the seven sisters, with circles on each end, start in the aqueous shape at the top of the artwork, run vertically through the middle section, to end in the last section. Painted on a bare board, the middle section contains an abundance of patterns depicting walking and meeting places, illustrative representations of flora, bush foods, rock holes, sand dunes and animal tracks. We see clusters of light purple flowers, and smaller bunches red flowers spread throughout. Light green leaves on winding vines are found at the top of the middle portion and concentric semi circles (often representing sand dunes) are seen towards the bottom of this section. Three circles linking together with thick black lines to form V’s are found on either side of the seven long lines that divide the image. To the right side of the lines the V is upright and to the left it is upside down (mirrored). There are small orange shapes that have an inner circle and five pieces coming off this circle to form other small circles. Small circles of yellow surrounded by half circles, people sitting around fire. Light blue circles containing concentric circles are linked with dotted connectors. These series of shapes represent meeting places around rocky outcrops and water sources. Throughout this section we see small half circles, and small lines representing men and women sitting. There are also the animal tracks making long sweeping lines through the abundant landscape.
The last section of the artwork features a mostly turquoise blue background that has patches of pink and yellow mixed in. This has a network of red ochre lines , that meet with varying sizes of black circles. These circles are ringed with white dotting.  This section makes us think of the network of rock holes or soakage points running through the desert landscape.

Tina Carmody

Ned Crossley - Fence(d)

‘Fence(d)’, 2022, by Ned Crossley, is made from salvaged saplings, the size of the artwork is 150 x 240 cm. The artwork consists of thirty one salvaged saplings. These sticks rescued from fire have been smoothed and shaped then suspended vertically along the wall. The sticks are from a variety of local trees, mostly Rock Sheoaks and Hakeas as well as some Marri and Jam trees. The pieces of wood range in size, from 150 to 50 cm in length and are about 2 to 6cm in diameter.  Most of the sticks have burnt tapered ends and some are burnt in different sections. Some have completely smooth surfaces and others have small sections of rough bits of bark still attached. Many of the pieces have small branches coming off the main body, though some are smooth like a traditional walking stick. The art work has a tactile quality, we would love to touch the surfaces,  feel the individual sticks that would fit nicely  into the grip of a hand, they look useful. The installation of the saplings on the wall in a row makes us think of the title of the piece ‘Fence (d)’, though they are more of an idea of a fence, a lyrical construction. The sticks attached to the wall at regular intervals across the work, are hung at differing heights within a set 150 cm parameter. Like notes in a bar of music, the sticks flow up and down the work, as we gaze or walk it’s length. 

The saplings were rescued from a fire break, that was being ruthlessly cleared around the borders of the artist’s property in Williams, in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The artist’s careful shaping and placement in this installation comes from his consideration for his place in the environment. He has a deep respect for Aboriginal people who lived here before him and their connection to boodja, to country. In the creation of this work he used traditional techniques of fire and stone, that First Nations people used to fashion tools for hunting and gathering. The artist has created the artwork as a memorial to the casualties of  human action.

Ned Crossley

Melissa Drummond – Erosion

‘ Erosion’, 2022, by Melissa Drummond, is a photographic diptych, made of inkjet prints on archival paper, the artwork is comprised of two prints that are each 74 x 104 cm. The artwork features two atmospheric landscape photographs, installed on the gallery wall next to each other in a landscape orientation. Both images contain dramatic scenes, the left photo depicts the brewing of a violent storm, it shows billowing thick pink clouds set against a darker sky. This dark backdrop has a haze of purple on the right hand and a shimmer of pink on the left. The tempestuous sky sits above a dark purple landscape. The dark colours of the land surround a lighter, hazy centre, giving the appearance of mist coming off a valley. 

The second image depicts a bruised purple sky, a brooding sunset on the dark remnants of a demolition site in Williamstown, a place being encroached upon by the underground mining operations. A large crumpled piece metal shines in the foreground of the image. This abandoned section of corrugated iron folded in a complicated pattern shimmers golden and silver in the dying light. Lit like some large abstract sculpture it becomes the focus of the image. The piece of metal is surrounded by the detritus of mining construction site, torn branches, spindly trees and shards of metal.  Barely discernible in the image, an iron fence missing a sheet sits in the distance to the left of crumpled sculpture, a cross beam, highlighted by a thin line of red.  Our eyes drift from the shiny remnant to a large yellow excavator (digger) in the background and to the right of the image. In the scarred landscape the excavator is facing away from us, the rays from the setting sun illuminate the lights on the rear of the digger, and cross sections of the machine. A thin line of golden sky sits on the horizon behind the yellow excavator, it touches tufts of soft blue at the base and a lavender purple clouds above. Small flecks of pinky red can be found amongst the bruised sky. The rich colours and the drama of the scenes presented in both photographs pulls the images together. The images form a narrative, two frames in a longer story, documenting the destruction of nature through human industry.

The artist is a documentary photographer based in Kalgoorlie. They have a background in earth science and are interested in the intersection of mining and the natural world. Her artistic practice often involves seeking out quiet, abandoned and degraded environments, recording the influence and impact of human activity. The images capture the attrition of borders, both universal and local. The artist is exploring the ideas of borders and erosion, they believe they are intrinsically linked to destruction and displacement, and this is found particularly when it comes to our sense of self and place.

Melissa Drummond

Jen Mitchell – Grounded

‘Grounded’, 2022, by Jen Mitchell, is an acrylic painting on linen, the size of the artwork is 380 x 220cm. The artwork features a view through an aeroplane window painted on a gridded background. The painted view contained within the shape of the window, depicts part of the wing and an engine of the plane amongst a blue and white cloudscape. The image has been painted with large gestural movements, with the paint being applied in varying levels of thickness. In some places a grid of small squares shows through these expressive brushstrokes. The window is roughly oval in shape, lined with a black and white strips. The sky takes up about a third of the picture through the window,  the top is a deep blue that blends with white below to lighten towards the horizon, looking like clouds moving across a blue sky. There is a small section of turquoise blue towards the right side of the sky. The horizon is a  scraped back thin line revealing small vertical lines below. Turquoise blue mixed with slashes of white is found directly below the horizon, resembles the colour of the sea, making us feel that we are possibly travelling over water. The work was actually inspired by flying over the wheat belt on a cloudy day, with the light and colours from sky bouncing back. This was the first flight for the artist after being grounded for a long time. A dark blue cylindrical shape , possibly the plane engine sits over a long tapering rectangle (the wing). The wing has two horizontal stripes of light blue mixed with white , these stripes start at the blue engine shape and move toward the end of the wing. One of the stripes finishes at the end of the wing and the other stops when another crosses it two thirds of the way down. The wing contains squares of a tan yellow lined with a greyish black. The same tan yellow is found running down the left hand side of the window between lines of white and black. A grid of grey squares lined with black, approximately twenty centimetres wide, surround the window. These 700 squares, 697 of which represent each day the Western Australian border remained closed during lockdowns. Three squares of tan yellow are in the bottom righthand corner, above this is the artist’s signature JEN MITCHELL. The expressive natural seascape contrasts with the geometric shapes making up the airplane. The artwork is very large and is suspended unframed filling the wall. Due to the size of the work being much larger than ourselves, when we gaze at the view, it can be overwhelming, we can feel ourselves falling into the cloudscape. 

The artist grew up on  small island in the Northwest of the USA and has lived in Western Australia since 2006. Before Covid, the ubiquitous image of an airplane window was an essential part of her life as someone who has made her ‘home’ away from the place she was born. The artist explores the idea that borders effect our construct of home, after this global change. With thirty two percent of Western Australia’s population born overseas, the closed borders meant for some people opportunity and community, for others it meant loss, isolation and severance.