A tree branches, so does a river: responsively (dis)placing materialities and subjectivities in postcolonizing Australia

Abstract

My family has a connection to the area surrounding and including Lismore, a city in northern New South Wales, spanning seven generations of continuous occupation. In the first half of the nineteenth century, my ancestors were among the first non-Indigenous people to invade this Country in search of the valuable timber species, red cedar (Toona ciliata). Within this research project, I have been tracking the displacement and contemporary condition of this material, with a focus on the symbiotic relationship between the tree and the cedar tip moth (Hypsipyla robusta). Through some of the creative work I have developed during this project, I have been exploring the intricate and imperceptible relationships that occur beyond the sensory limitations of humans, exemplified by this symbiosis. During this project, I have conducted numerous research trips to Lismore, and I have engaged in an embodied form of research that mines my autobiography and personal history. Following a story passed down from my grandmother about her father’s metal work in Lismore, I have been exploring the potential for an intergenerational draw to material, as the use of steel has become increasingly prevalent in my art-making of the last decade. The wrought iron belfry and the cast bronze bells of the old Lismore Post Office clock tower have become the locus through which these ideas are examined, and the forms and materials of these objects are utilised within the video and sculptural work I have been making. Crucial to the practice and methodology of this research project is the respectful acknowledgement of the customary authority of the traditional custodians of the Country around Lismore, the people of the Bundjalung Nation. One of the aims of this research project is to investigate the potential of art-making as a framework through which I may contribute to an ongoing process of reconciliation between non-Indigenous Australians and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. My attempts at a sustained engagement with Aboriginal people from the Lismore area, and a propositional, collaborative artwork with a Bundjalung artist, Digby Moran, are discussed within this research paper.