Friday Five: Inhabiting Change

At the Belconnen Art Gallery, I came across an exhibition, Inhabiting Change by Fiona Heard. Change Management is one of the things we hear about often at work. In corporate spaces, the theory of how to adapt and manage changes to our routine and processes is much touted. I thought I'd take a look at how that is represented in art and nature. 

According to the brochure, Fiona Heard is a multidisciplinary artist based in Lake Macqaurie who, inspired by the Australian landscape, uses mark making to explore the relationship between nature and time. Mark making is described as a deeply personal 'visual signature' of an artist, crating different lines, dots, patterns, textures and shapes in an artwork. 

Fiona Heard writes, "Inhabiting Change explores the nature of impermanence, framing the present not as a static destination, but as a dynamic threshold between what was and what will be. The images in this body of work originate in the landscape of South Western NSW: a reflection of both childhood memory and my evolving relationship with the region as an adult. My process mirrors this continuous state of becoming. I begin with the unpredictability of hand printing, embracing chance marks and reduced control to form an initial visual language.

"The final worls emerge through physical reconfiguration. By tearing, combining, and sewing these printed elements, I mimic the way memory and land are constantly reshaped. The resulting pieces move beyond literal representation to evoke an abstracted familiarity, reflecting the reality that change is never a finished state, but an ongoing transformative process."

The Guarded Ruin

Dawn Arrives and Colour Returns

The Deserted Hearth

Birdsong and Bullrushes

The Scorched Earth

The Sun's Benediction

What strikes me most about these images is the fluctuating light and shadows; hues change constantly with the intensity of the day, with our eyes deceiving us after dark - forms around us seemigly move and change, prompting us to question what is real and what is imagined? In some images the landscape is stripped back to its red ochre earth; in others trees stand as sentinels or skeletons. The shifting nature belies a restless earth that envelops the vegetation in its path, subsuming ruins of buildings and infrastructure, echoing absences and acknowledging ghosts.

The vibrating earth will continue thrumming with life. Birdsong breaks into quietude and, "The sun's energy unites the earth and the sky, the life cycle continues and still waters witness a world out of time." Everything has a place and co-exists; we cannot have the present without the past that informed it. Just as the canvas is composed of many layers and palimpsets, so is the country on which we live, work and play.

Townsville’s Palmetum

When we learned a good friend had died, we had been expecting it, but were still devastated. We were in Townsville at the time and we went to the Palmetum to reflect. It's a botanic garden displaying one the largest and most diverse public collections of plams in the world. Botanic gardens make me feel calm - there is a reassuring sense of life, growth and continuity. It was what I needed to find peace.

I haven't really got words, so I will just share images. 

In the avenue of Bismarkia nobilis

The Xerophytic Zone is the sort of desert area, which receives irrigation only while plants are being established or during extremely long dry spells. The flowers are bright, but the stalks are spiky and often covered in insects.

I find spirals and circles comforting as they return to their beginnings and intimate infinity. 

Some of them remind me of corals and marine plants and animals - I suppose nature uses similar formations throughout all environments. 

These green ants are found throughout tropical northern Australia from the western Kimberley through northern NT to central eastern Queensland. They are called gulguk by the Larrika people, who harvest them ethically in Arnhem land. They are mainly orange with a bright green abdomen, which is edible, with a powerful taste of citrus and coriander seed. As they are high in protein, Vitamin C and iron, and also contain amino acids, Zinc, Magnesium and B12, they were traditionally used in the Indigenous diet and medicines, to combat coughs and colds. They are now increasingly found as a garnish and a flavouring for everything from cheeses to boutique gin.   

And then we return to a cool spot with a water fountain, because water is life.