‘there is a thing in me still dreams of trees’ is a line from Mary Oliver’s poem A Dream of Trees which reflects on a desire to retreat from the human world and yet maintains an understanding that involvement in the crises and distractions of this very world is what fuels creativity. I’ve borrowed this phrase as an overarching title for my ongoing creative research related to the hoop pine plantations on Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi country - ecosystems that invite a process of truth-telling around colonial dispossession and extraction and invoke possibilities for healing and co-creation.
on the quiet surface 2023
Hoop Pine is a native timber, valued by the timber industry for its smooth grain. In contrast, the modular sculpture 'on the quiet surface' (2023) involved a process of heat bending hoop pine veneer (waste from a local plywood factory) to honor the visible traces of relational healing and growth in knots and whorls. This research and experimentation was supported by the University of Sunshine Coast MISTRA Artist in Residence Program and Metro Arts Visual Arts Pathfinders Program.
Ancestors are the future 2023
‘Tell a story about your ancestry’ was a question posed by Meander International Platform for Sustainable Art and Life Practices that initiated a series of serendipitous encounters on unceded Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi country, where my Danish ancestors lived and worked in timber and farming industries. My short text in response to this provocation was published alongside contributions from other Meander members in the Sensing Earth: Cultural Quests Across a Heated Globe, Valiz, Amsterdam, 2023. Contributors from Meander: Marina Guzzo, Caitlin Franzmann, Geir Tore Holm, Søssa Jørgensen, Kidauane Regina, Randi Nygård and Kjersti Vetterstad.
