Creating Worlds

William Robinson
Creation landscapes I – III and Rainforest

William Robinson presents a unique vision of the Australian landscape. It is often pictured from multiple perspectives as though we are looking through a kaleidoscope. Mountains, forests and vast skies merge together, linked by flowing water and shafts of sunlight. Robinson’s art shows our environment as a dynamic system in which all natural elements are connected.

John Wolseley
Botanist's camp

John Wolesley has explored Australia’s natural environment intimately. He camps alone in the bush and outback for months at a time, making art and recording the features of the landscape in scientific detail. Sometimes he even buries his art and returns to it later, finding that wildlife, plants and the seasons have all left their mark. Wolesley has a deep knowledge of Australian history, geography and the natural sciences, and his work expresses this fascination with the natural world.

Ruby Davies
Water as life: The town of Wilcannia and the Darling / Baaka, 20 August 2007

Ruby Davies grew up in outback town of Wilcannia on the Darling River in New South Wales. For this photograph a group of Wilcannia townspeople came together to stand along the dry riverbed. The artist has been documenting this river system for some time and sees it as a symbol of environmental degradation, and of current and historical struggles for control over water and land.

Robert MacPherson
15 Frog Poems: Double Drummer (Creek Song), for Bob Brosnan

Robert Macpherson has made many works of art with the title of ‘Frog Poem’. This one is a simple arrangement of found objects and text, with words that look exotic and strange. They are the Latin names of different kinds of native frogs common in subtropical Queensland, where the artist spent his childhood. Frogs are an important part of many ecosystems and their presence is a sign that the environment is healthy. The rusty corrugated iron is a familiar sign of human presence in the Australian landscape. Both natural and manmade elements suggest the profound impact of place and environment in shaping our memories.

Mavis Ngallametta
Ghost net basket with beach thong and sea life

Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been lost or abandoned. They drift alone in the world’s oceans, trapping and destroying precious marine life along the way. Mavis Ngalametta recycles ghost nets using weaving techniques learned from her family and community in the Aurukun Wetlands on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland. Coastal and marine species are important to the people of this area. Removing ghost nets from the water and putting them to better use is an expression of the artist’s environmental stewardship, or ‘caring for country’.

Gunybi Ganambarr
Lorr

This work shows the ancestral Lightening Snake rising from its watery home in the floodplains of eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It depicts freshwater meeting saltwater and the start of the wet season, which the Snake announces by spitting lightening across the sky. The artist has painted on recycled insulation cell, instead of the more traditional tree bark, giving a fresh new beauty to old materials.