Artist Statement I live approximately five miles from the sea in the municipality of Boroodara. This area, commonly referred to as “Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs”, was originally part of the hunting grounds of the Wurundjeri clan of the Woi Wurrung people. In 1837 John Gardiner, one of the earliest European settlers in the region took the name Boroondara from the Wurundjeri Clan. In their language Boroondara translates as; “where the ground is thickly shaded” and the direct translation of “Wurundjeri” is “White Gum Tree Dwellers” The new settlers subdivided the area and created suburbs with names such as Camberwell, Canterbury and Surrey Hills. Their nostalgia for their British heritage has also been reflected in the names of the streets; Middlesex, Essex, Sussex, Faversham, Guildford, Croydon. They replaced the native eucalypts with oak and elm trees and cultivated rose gardens. In my art practice I am interested in light and atmosphere as metaphors for notions of transience and change. The weather implies change while the eucalyptus tree is a direct reference to the original inhabitants of the area, the Wurundjeri. These two trees, the eucalyptus and the introduced European species presently exist alongside each other just over five miles from the sea.
Title: After the Rain, Chatham Road, 4.56pm, |
