Maatsuyker Island
During the summer of 2013-14 my partner and I undertook a three month Arts Tasmania Wilderness Residency on Maatsuyker Island.
Maatsuyker Island is a place of intense nature. From our quarters we gazed out over the Southern Ocean and watched as numerous storm clouds rolled in. The dark grey clouds brought with them gale force winds making the trees bend and claw up the island, and rain that went in all directions. Whilst most people would assume an artist would make works about the imposing landscape, I examined what made up the landscape from the ground up. I was interested in understanding the phenomena of things in nature. By examining how they grow, how the skeletal system of animals differ, and also looking at them with the artist’s eye as aesthetic objects in themselves. By isolating these objects as images I have constructed a large puzzle of what exists on the island, particularly looking at the decay and growth patterns of the organisms found there.