$2,350
In stock
120 x 120 cm
acrylic on canvas
Focusing on rhythmic layers I am trying to imagine the fleeting visual ghosts of ancient agricultural markers. While subterranean antiquities can be unearthed and studied, the surface scars of history, from continuous cropping and basic sustenance is far more vulnerable.
Interpreted from an aerial perspective, this work centres on the imaginary cropping lines and layered geometric circles that trace the imprint of humanity’s agricultural endeavours. Many physical markers have been erased by time, utlisation, conflicts over land ownership, and natural disasters.
A subdued palette of browns, greys, blacks, and whites recedes and anchors the pasts’ evidence of agricultural overwriting. In contrast, the foreground layers sit lightly as in time these will fade, but their brighter colour belies more recent activity.
A fragile tension remains, what is forgotten and what we have lost as a society when we fail to learn from past cultures. Australia’s First Nations and their ancient practices of cool burning is an example. This sophisticated, deeply spiritual method of land custody introduces low-intensity, mosaic fires to care for Country, clear fuel loads, and prevent the very disasters we now face.
The application is intentionally flat. Removing all physical texture from the canvas to mirror how history and time ruthlessly flatten and erase the tangible traces of our past. The continuous lines carry momentum, capturing these birds-eye geometrics before they disappear again. The final veil of flat varnish acts as a glass-like lens, preserving a layered view of a landscape that is rapidly slipping away beneath the march of progress and changing environments.
$8,500
In stock
