Beach Access 25
The walking tracks we took to and from the beach form part of my deeply engrained memories of childhood. I can remember the tracks like the back of my hand in vivid black and white grainy imagery. The feel of the hot sand in bare feet, the soft wavy bush on either sides of the tracks that I would touch along the way. The Noosa headlands are one of the few areas with native coastal heathlands integrated with rainforest on an ancient dune system that is part of the largest sand geologies in the world.
As the challenge for this exhibition was to create an immersive experience for the viewer, I wanted to re-create the track from our secret entrance near our house, over to Alexandra Bay; a popular surfing beach which has no road access.
My main focus thoughout the H2O series was to build up a personal lexicon of shapes, pattern and line (mark-making), to describe our unique Australian landscape. By using patterns, and geometric shapes to designate organic and architectural elements and repeatedly employing them in the formal abstract compositions of strata and grid paintings. Thus freeing up the viewer to immerse themselves in their own memories of walking such a track.
Beach Access 25
Walking the sandy back track to A- bay
We’re quiet, we’re tuning to the rhythm of the bush
the happy crackle and crunch of gum litter under our feet,
we disturb birds and lizards, sharp noises, invisible small things
A wallum scrub hedge on the leeward side is brittle, Australian and grey;
it’s our secret, our private track now.
At the crossroads we take the right towards the sea
An army of Grass trees marshalls us down the steep fall to the gulley boardwalk;
A slither of hot sun turns everything tangy green, there’s a welcome chill off the bright turpentine water
Swing back up the other side, along a ridge of ancient forest
Tangled trunks meet overhead and block the sky
Steamy and still: we’re suddenly intruding here
Sweat and wax starts to chafe my skin.
Fresher now we’re at the last dune, flat Wooden slats hold the sand
We pick our way down; there’s the view through the trees,
sand, water, waves; I’m excited, I’m not watching the ground;
my foot hits every fourth rung.
Noosa Regional Gallery
Exhibition
“More than the Sum of its Parts”
a salon hang from floor to ceiling giving the viewer an immersive experience of the vast and varied ecosystem that is the Noosa natural environment
4 FEB – 6 APR 2023
NOOSA EXHIBITION SERIES