Outpost Clandulla State Gallery 2014

13 Apr 2014 : Clandulla State Gallery, Bylong Valley Way, NSW

For the Clandulla State Gallery, Survey Show #3, I washed visitors’ feet in flour, referring to a biblical image recalled from an Old Testament story of Abraham visited by angels in the desert. I responded to the forest environment as territory, terrain, as colonised land. Also as something perhaps slightly unwholesome. A feeling I have experienced in State Forests that can be different to natural bushland. Dealing with ideas about habitat, camouflage, refuge, and isolation and thinking of landing in a strange other world, an uninviting place. A site of enclosure, a tent or tabernacle, which may be a place of worship, or a way of concealing activities. Where did it come from and how did it get here? How long has it been here? These are the kinds of questions that require a suspension of disbelief. As the occupant I inhabit the tent in a durational performance, maintaining the place and its status. Perhaps waiting for a war to end that has in fact already ended decades ago, or anticipating one that is perpetually imminent.