Unplaced |
Monoculture plantation forests displace and replace the stands of native species that once dominated the landscapes of New Zealand and Australia, where grew I up and where I live.
Like the plantation forests that distort the ecologies of their environments, the monoculture of westernisation has distorted and displaced the rich and diverse cultures that existed before them. Plantation forests not only distort the physical environment they distort people’s connection to the Land. Removing naturally established ecologies degrades the land in the minds of people, who lose respect and concern for these places, seeing them as good for nothing but dumping inconvenient belongings. Unplaced? I am without an inherited or indigenous connection to Tasmania, yet I live here. I am seeking to understand how my desire to connect with the environment around me, fits into a society that needs to decolonise. Like the pine trees growing row on row, I am the descendent of generations of Northern Hemisphere immigrants. I am not directly transplanted but grown from stock that has adapted to these environments. Within these strange and dislocated environments, I find space to contemplate both the environmental impacts of colonisation and the legacy of colonial ancestors on my identity. I can question the pioneering female ideal handed down to me through five generations of women, and look at myself from other perspectives. |
Unplaced
|
Head On at 107 draws together 8 photographic artists. The series have been selected to sit together yet stand apart, representing different approaches. The curatorial process gives equal weight to each artist’s work and unifies the exhibition space. The artists collaborate on installation, promotion and social media, supporting each other through the process of exhibition
|
Unplaced
|
…the celebrated dendrologist was deeply impressed with the latent possibilities for the growth
of exotic conifers, and in fact expressed the view that in much of our waste lands Tasmania possessed the finest tree planting propositions in the world. (Forestry Department 1921). The early history of plantation forestry on State-owned land in Tasmania H. Elliott, Tasforests Vol.19, 2011 |
