WIRE

'WIRE' engages landscape art to offer a critical reflection on the national pastime of battlefield tourism and the culture of sentiment and fascination that has attached itself to war. Redfern's research illuminates crucial areas of Australian geo-cultural identity but not by creating a causal historical narrative. It straddles a difficult divide in trying to acknowledge the suffering represented by these events with appropriate respect whilst critically engaging with contemporary attitudes that memorialise, sentimentalise and distort them.' WIRE' was created between 2008 and 2010 in the Mallee and the Picardy region of France, centering on their shared history through the events of July 1916 and the Soldier Settlement scheme which followed the First World War. The two environments are treated very differently: one shot forensically and at micro scale whilst the other is more conventionally cinematic. The Mallee is shot in the red sun of 40+ degrees whilst Fromelles is in the soft winter light of sub-zero conditions. Nonetheless the environments and performance merge together to express displacement and loss. The work contrasts these environments, summer and winter, north and south, to express the impossibility of bridging the gap between the present and historical moment. As the jingoism surrounding ANZAC has become more distorted and disturbing WIRE provides a critical, yet respective reflection on its origins. Redfern uses video installation to explore the multiple and contradictory sentiments that centre on the events of war.
'WIRE' began through Redfern's residency at the Art Centre d'Marnay in 2008 and was completed as a commission for the Mildura Regional Arts Centre in 2010.