Still (once trees)

2022 / North Sydney Art Prize
Sculpture category winner

Burnt, truncated telegraph poles are barely standing at the edge of a local road; the Black Summer fires have made their own memorial. I recovered them from the Lake Conjola area on Dharawal and Yuin country close to my regular holiday campsite after the scene was reduced to a blackened still-life nearly two years ago.  No longer able to convey power, telecommunications and light, what remained of the poles bore witness to an underlying breakdown in how we respond to our country, the global climate crisis and each other. 

Still reminds us of the destruction that raged over Australia in 2019/20.  In this space it becomes another memorial; contained, somewhat displaced but asking us to be present with it on an intimate level. Viewers can also make associations between the coal loader (coal deposits once were ancient forests) to provide power to marine vessels and that of telegraph poles (once trees) carrying power to local communities.

The title speaks to the stillness of death, the stillness and silence of country after the fires, and also to a possibility of resilience.  Whilst the pandemic seemingly eclipsed the fires, Still reminds us to remember the land, people, and animals are still deeply affected. And the fires will come again.