Hook, Sandi, and Nash, Eric (2015) Imagining place: cultural memories of North Queensland [exhibition]. [Creative Work]

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Abstract

This exhibition is a visual investigation into ‘place’ in North Queensland. To focus investigations, I followed the paths of early explorers and settlers to investigate sites where they crossed paths. In the main these sites are remote. As the artist/explorer, I travelled to those places to understand the physical terrain where different groups and cultures, including First Nations peoples, walked the same tracks. As I gathered my visual data during field trips I attempted to follow as near as possible the path of an explorer, Aboriginal inhabitant or settler. In the sites I immersed myself in ‘place’ and tried to imagine the explorer in place, experiencing a constant unease of the unknown. The process of travel and lived experience was necessary to understand the environment in sentience: to feel the heat, see the wind move the trees, see the water running in the river, and experience the isolation and loneliness. In the main I have chosen water crossings, as these are the life force of the traveller from whatever time in history. In between the land is dry and I imagine the hardships this type of country would bring. I began to comprehend and imagine ‘place’ in new creative ways.

Research Statement

Research Background	While artists have visually recorded North and Far North Queensland place, there was a gap in knowledge from the perspective of the artist, between colonial explorers: Ludwig Leichhardt, Edmund Kennedy and George Dalrymple, and their intrusion into First Nations lands. As a non-Indigenous woman, I investigate place as I travel similar paths to the explorers and embed myself in place, reimagining and visually documenting backgrounded with the knowledge of negative aspects of colonial incursion.
Research Contribution	The exhibition catalogue highlights visual and textual documentation, demonstrating the empty container as the metaphor for British colonialism. The shattering of the containers in response to the flawed concept of terra nullius and subsequent re-bonding, expressed new cultural and emotional connection to place toward reconciliation. The artwork provides a visual public memory of a forgetful haze of colonialism in North and Far North Queensland
Research Significance	Practice-led research and immersion in historical sites, through the phenomenological approach of sentience, perception, movement and memory, leads to new ways of presenting multi-disciplinary art forms. Reflection and recognition of unethical occurrences of colonial incursion invariably leads towards significant opportunities through art making to highlight and provide pathways for healing in North and Far North Queensland.
Item ID:	62103
Item Type:	Creative Work (Curated/Produced Exhibition/Event - Exhibition/Event)
Media of Output:	Lithography, linoleum silk cut printing, drawing, installation
Event Details:	Imagining Place: Cultural Memories of North Queensland Perc Tucker Regional Gallery 30 Jan - 22 Mar 15
Keywords:	printmaking, drawing, installation, place, North and Far North Queensland Exploration, colonial incursion, artist as explorer, Edmund Kennedy, Ludwig Leichhardt, George Dalrymple
Copyright Information:	Exhibition catalogue available Open Access from ResearchOnline@JCU by permission of Perc Tucker Regional Gallery.
Funders:	Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
Date Deposited:	04 Feb 2020 02:53
FoR Codes:	19 STUDIES IN CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 1905 Visual Arts and Crafts > 190502 Fine Arts (incl Sculpture and Painting) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	95 CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING > 9501 Arts and Leisure > 950104 The Creative Arts (incl. Graphics and Craft) @ 100%
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