From the Director - November 2024

Hello Everyone,

We have just launched another fantastic exhibition!

Carbon_Dating is a love letter to our native grasses. A heartfelt reflection from a group of artists who were lucky enough to spend time growing and caring for these grasses, which are an essential yet often forgotten part of our ecology.

The story behind this exhibition is that several curators and artists got together and wanted to do something with the discussion that's happening about the loss of our native grasses across Australia. They started to talk with scientists, landcare workers and First Nations Elders. And they came up with the idea of growing seven plots of grasses across Queensland. They then documented the growth of the grasses, and how they responded to the different locations. They learned about the environmental changes impacting the grasses, and the impact of farming and development also. This exhibition is the artists' responses to this experience.

Donna Davis' work actually informed the exploration of the other artists, with her investigation boxes. These were kits that went to each of the growing areas, that included tools for engaging with the grasses like magnifying glasses, seed pods, music and prompt cards. Donna collaborated with a composer, a poet and a philosopher to compile these boxes. One of them, Personal Interweaver, is included in the exhibition for you to explore.

Donna also included her own personal artistic response, which looks at the cellular components of grass. Interwoven is a beautiful triptych video installation, incorporating multiple technologies and soundscape. She invites you to sit in the space on specially made cushions and take time with this fascinating work.

As you walk into the space, Andrea Higgins' large scale photograms face you, the Grass and Glass Series. The way she produced these was by laying elements on photosensitive material and then capturing the images with light and building up a really dark black around them. It's almost like the paper has been coated with carbon, the black is so deep and dark against the white silhouettes of almost forgotten grasses in glass vases. They make you look at the grass in a different way.

There is a delicate set of embroidery hoops by Hilary Coulter, P.O.V. (Point of View), which features different elements of the grassland on each piece. She asks you to pick up the hoops and change their order, to change the landscape you are viewing. In this way, she wants us to think about our responsibility for the land and how it is changed. It is looking in a way that is both playful and serious.

Melissa Stannard (Yuwaalaraay, Gamilaraay, Koama) has her fabulous works that she creates with the sun, again on photosensitive material. She has a way of layering her work, and there's a depth to this one which is quite extraordinary. In Dhunbarr warranggal garrar, she included this clever element by adding little magnifying glasses on the wall to give you glimpses behind the prints. So there's the idea that nothing should be taken at surface value, there's always more that sits behind it.

We were lucky enough to have Melissa facilitate a mob-only cyanotype workshop, for First Nations artists and creatives to come together to make, learn and yarn. Melissa also lead an open workshop about 'wild journaling', where she taught the group how to make their own journal using all sort of papers and mark making. She's a multi-talented artist who shares her knowledge generously with the community.

Mia Hacker and Kilagi Nielsen have done some beautiful drawings using the natural inks they made by boiling up the grasses. There's a wonderful story about the really large drawing work, Tinwalliwah & Numabulla (Walli Mountain & Mary River): Environmental Growing Conditions Observations. Kilagi's mother apparently had the paper for a long time, and it was all rolled up really tight. So they threw it into the creek, left it for a couple of days and then pulled it out. They then made the drawing on the bank of the the river using all of the materials surrounding them. There's mud from the creek, dyes, pigments being pulled across the paper using the grasses to create feathering. It's a lovely end result of this performative process.

Kilagi comes from a traditional background, as a master weaver from Papua New Guinea. She's lived here for quite a while, but she brings this wonderful knowledge from thousands and thousands of years of traditional making. She created these wonderful drawings with Mia, and she's also woven with the native grasses, using the seed components as a sort of decorative component. She facilitated a student workshop and the weavings they created together were extraordinary. In the hands of an artist, these grasses become something completely different. She celebrates the preciousness of our grasses, which is what the exhibition is about.

We have Jason Murphy (Jinibara) and Pipier Wellers' beautiful tote bags and photo postcards on display, which talk about their responses to the plot that they tended. Of course, Jason's one of our Jinabarah Elders, and he has been managing cold burn offs for a while now. That's a traditional way of burning off the land that allows the the native grasses to come back. Because some grasses will only do their seeding if they've been hit by fire, so it's part of the natural cycle. So he brings this incredible knowledge to the project.

And you can actually buy their Grass Care Package, if you have $25 to donate. The money goes straight to an environmental concern that you might be interested in, and you receive one of their bags with the set of six postcards within.

Liz Capelin has created a set of ceramic works, Held. She pressed the grass seeds into the clay to create an imprint. These vessels celebrate the actual structure of the grasses and their seeds. And the amazing thing you see, is how many different seed heads there are.

And you know how we all get the seeds in our pants and socks, when we're walking through long grass. There's a beautiful work, Sewing the Seeds by Merinda Davies, who actually says we should be the spreader of seeds. And when you go through a field and get the seeds all on the bottom of your pants, and you have to pick them off while cursing, she said we should actually celebrate that and go out to spread the seeds. Because many of our native grasses were spread that way, by animals moving through scrub and grassland tracking seeds. And that has been lost, because the sorts of animals we farm don't spread the seeds in the same way as animals with lots of hair on their legs. So Merinda suggests we have garments and little bags of seeds that we use to spread seeds as we go about our day, which I think is a lovely idea.

Delissa Walker Ngadijina (Kuku Yalanji) has made this beautiful fence with different grasses, The Native Fence. There's an interesting subtext when you think also of the rabbit proof fence and that idea of the introduced species and how it destroys the environment. And also how fencing throughout our country changes our environment, because animals get caught in fences and can't travel from one distance to another, like they once did, spreading grass seeds. So this very simple fence structure, which is delicately beautiful unto itself, has layers within it which are quite profound. 

Keith Armstrong has created a screen-based work, Grassland Community of Care/ (More Than Human Persons), that is well worth taking some time with. And Sasha Parlett (Maylangapa/Barkindji) has created a wonderful film that actually explains the whole project. So take the time to view, it's a good watch. You can listen to the story of how it all came together and what came out of it.

It's a beautiful space, calm and reflective, a joy to be in. And I think people will be going away thinking that we need to do something to preserve our native grasses. They're so precious and we're losing them. The artists, the curators, the land care people, the scientists, First Nations peoples, and all of us, want to celebrate our wonderful native grasses. If you'd like to dive deeper into Carbon_Dating, you can read the exhibition catalogue. 

The exhibition continues until 8 December, so don't miss out on this very special experience. We also have the Carbon_Dating panel talk coming up on 16 November. This will be an opportunity to yarn about connecting with and caring for Country, guided by curator Jo-Anne Driessens (Guwa-Koa, Kuku Yalanji).

Look forward to seeing you in the Gallery…

Jo Duke
Director

Jo Duke | Photo by ben vos productions

Header image credit: Carbon_Dating contributors, left to right - Brian Warner (Kabi Kabi), Jason Murphy (Jinibara), Jo-Anne Driessens (Guwa-Koa, Kuku Yalanji), Melissa Stannard (Yuwaalaraay, Gamilaraay, Koama), Liz Capelin, Kilagi Nielsen, Mia Hacker, Merinda Davies, Andrea Higgins, Donna Davis, Beth Jackson and Keith Armstrong. Photo by Patrick Want, Volere Studio.