Barossa Range

BACKGROUND My work examines the Australian landscape and the body, as markings of time, place and reflection. The physicality of environment, within our own bodies and looking beyond to the places we inhabit, providing a matrix for exploring the nature of existence through contemporary printmaking. CONTRIBUTION My work examines the philosophical question of ontological metaphysics, the nature of being and reality. This suite of etchings takes in the view of the Barossa Range from the vantage point of the St Jacobi Cemetery in Lyndoch, situated in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, where generations of family are buried. The castings in the work are made from twigs and leaf litter picked up in the grounds of the cemetery. Cast in silver, they take on the nature of a piece of heirloom jewellery, or memento mori, to be passed down from one generation to the next. This is a reflection upon the environment we leave for the generations after us. This work is informed by the work of artists Simryn Gill and Richard Long, within the environmental and land art movements. SIGNIFICANCE The Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery is a program of Swan Hill Rural City Council and part of the cultural team. The gallery presents to the public a comprehensive range of exhibitions, concerts and educational programs of outstanding quality, sourced from local and emerging artists, touring exhibitions and curated from the permanent collection. The gallery houses a collection of paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures from 1960, with special interest in Australian Naïve art, works on paper and pieces relating to this region. The gallery holds a biennial National Print and Drawing Acquisitive Award. The judges for the 2010 National Print and Drawing Acquisitive Award were Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Victoria, Cathy Leahy and artist / printmaker Jan Senbergs.