to wonder / to wander

BACKGROUND: 'to wonder / to wander' by James Carey and Megan Cope contributed to 'Interpretive Wonderings', a collaborative mapping project exploring multivalent understandings of the traditional country of the Barkandji people at the 8000 hectare Culpra Station in rural NSW. Their work consists of two collaboratively made paintings, three and half metres wide by one and half high, created on-site in response to and with the Culpra Milli country. CONTRIBUTION: Carey and Cope established new material/immaterial relationships through the creation of two collaborative, cartographic, durational and abstract paintings. The works were made using found materials, pigments and ochres, directly embedding the country of Culpra Station onto the surface of the linen. Processes of colour washing, folding the linen into grids, and repainting back over the material formed compositions that express the collective memory and material qualities of the site, encompassing both indigenous and agricultural histories. The project extends Carey's research practice, which contributes new understandings of material engagement with site, and ways of reconstructing, observing, occupying and honouring interiors, especially sites in transition. SIGNIFICANCE: Esteem is evidenced by Carey's selection for this significant project involving partners: Culpra Milli Aboriginal Corporation, Mildura Arts Centre, UTS, RMIT and Monash University. The project was exhibited twice in 2016 as 'Interpretative Wonderings' - Mildura Arts Centre, February - April; and 'Migratory Wonderings' - 107 Projects, Redfern Sydney, November (curated by Sven Mehzoud, Sophia Pearce, Campbell Drake & Jock Gilbert). The exhibitions were featured in the Mildura Independent, The Sunraysia Daily, on ABC Radio National and on SBS online.