Landscape and memory (Bundeena)

This work, inspired by ideas of land and belonging, combines ‘eco-prints’ using local native vegetation with images of myself, my husband and our young family from our first arrival in bush-bound Bundeena three decades ago.

I have recently been exploring ‘eco-printing’*, using the leaves of (mostly native) Australian plants to imprint and dye pieces of fabric and paper. Using vintage pieces of damask and linen sourced in thrift stores, the contrast struck me between the woven and embroidered designs of exotic flowers representing our colonial past, and the spiky and distinctive Australian plants. See my growing Eco-print gallery

The images that I most love are reminiscent of a decaying forest floor, and adding iron from rusty nails into the mix introduces an orange/black/grey palette that is spookily reminiscent of bushfire colours. I love that this evokes notions of a layered landscape, with buried memories, something I have been exploring for many years in my photographic art.

*’eco-printing’ first explored, named and disseminated by textile artist India Flint. (Flint, I. (2008). Eco colour: Botanical dyes for beautiful textiles. Murdoch Books, Sydney)