RESIDENCY [ JULY 2020 ]
We leave the city for a cabin nestled in the Snowy Mountains (Ngarigo Country), seeking a clearer vision for our creative thrust. On our first day we are met with two Wedge Tailed Eagles, one circles clockwise overhead; the other anti clockwise; two dark angels skyborn. Bleached wallaby bone and gumtrees half-thriving and half-withered scatter themselves through grassland. In the mornings the gumtrees creak and clack, shaking frosty limbs as the sun greets them again. Home to Australia’s highest mountain range, this Country is open and sub-alpine, bringing with it extreme winds and polarizing temperatures; conditions that translate into the slow motion contortions of Snow gums (Waraganj). A patchwork of ecotypes; rolling herbfields and fens, River Tussock and Snow Grass growing along mountain streams; stark in appearance but rich in life. Feral brumbies tear through the streams, a clash of teeth, a snort, flickering manes; surviving in this wild landscape. A long day begins; boiling water at first light, preparing our equipment, exploring the river systems and dry windswept hills, documenting the flora and fauna, starting a fire in the blackened potbelly stove, sketching by candlelight…