A Piece of EcoCity
The Halifax EcoCity Project is not just the seed for a future ecological Adelaide; it is the embodiment of a new paradigm that is sweeping the planet.
More from this Issue
Mark Stephens on 600,000 Hours
Exhibition review 600,000 Hours (mortality) exhibitions
Experimental Art Foundation
Adelaide South Australia
15 September - 4 December 1994
David Bromfield on Sculpture
Exhibition review The Games Room
Stuart Elliott at Lawrence Wilson Art Galley
University of Western Australia
21 October - 4 December 1994
Death of a Myth
Michelle H Elliot at Gomboc Galleries and Sculpture Park
6 - 27 November 1994
Photographing the Drought
"I used to think there was no link between farming and art...well, most art reflects the environment in which it is produced and the artist who produces it..."
The Terratransformers of Planet Three
Re-creation of a living landscape has to happen in farmyards, back-yards, and city squares, it has to be understood and practised at the small scale as well as the large. The remake the landscape for an ecological future we must make it fit for all living beings.
Plant a Yam, Paint a Yam
Explores the relationship between food and its representation in the northeast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Remember, dangerous themes make dangerous art.
Portrait of the Farmer as a Mature Potato
"As with everything else, the country that I have been talking about is frequently regarded as a commodity, be it in relation to yields of primary produce or to spectacles and hypothetical experiences marketed for tourist consumption. Here's the main thing to understand: this commodification is entirely at odds with the appreciation of landscape that I've been trying to tell you about."
Robyn Daw on Elsje King
Exhibition review Elsje King: Textiles
University Gallery
University of Tasmania, Launceston
9 September - 7 October 1994
Art about farming, farming as an art
The daily experience of tending a tract of land in the south-east of South Australia is the raw material of artist–farmer James Darling. The land which comprises Duck Island is watercourse country where sand, water, salt and native vegetation are the elements from which, over decades of passionate attention, he and his partner Lesley Forwood have developed a farm which includes a special salt-tolerant grass for their cattle. His exhibition, Define the Country, at Riddoch Art Gallery in Mount Gambier is a response to this farmed landscape.
The Struggle for LESS Interesting Pictures
Beth Field is a farmer and a photographer in the WA wheatbelt facing a curious loss, one she is happy to accept - the dramatic colours of sunsets reflected in the salt lakes which she used to photograph may soon be hard to find as revegetation reclaims the soil. She recounts the changes she has seen in the last decade.
Harsh Realities: Artists and the Land
Even in the shiny spaces of the big cities, for some the dirt of the paddocks is only just below the surface. Michael Eather talks to three artists who were born and raised in the country, about their current attitudes to the land as a place of production.