Into the black

Research statement: Research Background: Into the Black was selected for an international exhibition Contemporary Australia: a visual narrative of the land and its people by both indigenous and non- indigenous artists. While this was a very broad theme about identity in and of Australia, which has been pursued by many Australian artists, my interest was in developing my ongoing work into environmental concerns of climate change especially in relation to bushfire that is identified with and so prevalent in SE Australia and of which there is less evidence in international contexts. Research Contribution: Into the Black, a diptych, evoked an atmosphere of bushfire - smoke, wind and noise through text and image rather than illustrated. Unusually the text part of the diptych used the remains of fire itself, the ash resulting from burned wood, to create the text, a portion of John Ruskin's writings, about the incredible noise of the wind associated with bushfire. With the addition of a photographic close up of smoke the diptych represents the more abstract sights and sounds of bushfire. Research Significance: The work was selected for Kyoto Hanga by curators, Noreen Grahame and Akky von Ogtrop and included the work of 38 invited Australian artists including Fiona Hall, Raymond Arnold, Jorg Schmeisser, Judy Watson and John Wolseley along with 107 Japanese artists, supported by the Australian Government through Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Australia-Japan Foundation. Exhibitions were held in Kyota Municipal Museum of Art and Fukuyama Museum of Art. This was the seventh international collaborative exhibition, the first with Australia and highlighted similarities and differences between two very different cultures.