Cannibis Sativa as a drug, as uses of hemp - textiles, fabric and paper - as building materials, as oils food and protein, for medical and therapeutic applications, biomass energy... so why is there a prohibition?
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.
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.
New Caledonia has become the first Pacific nation to hold a Biennale of Contemporary Visual Art. Lucienne Fontannaz travelled to Noumea to interview artist Rene Boutin and discovered an artist who takes more than the gallery and his studio as his milieu.
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.
Aesthetic value is determined by commonly held notions of taste, beauty and attractiveness and differs from culture to culture. How does this influence us in our choice of nourishment - our daily bread, fruit or snack food? Why does food today look like it does?
Exhibition review Four Point Bearing: Simon Barley, Paul Hay, Ian Parry and James Smeaton
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
26 December 1994 - 25 February 1995
Artist's journal by Paul Hay
Exhibition review Lifeworks: Aboriginal women photographed in action and at work by Aboriginal women photographers
Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute
Adelaide South Australia
7 October - 4 December 1994