Intention uses a
combination of text and image to commemorate the lives of refugees drowned at
Christmas Island attempting to reach Australia by boat. As a migrant I have immigrated
to Australia twice, the first as a boat arrival aboard the S.S. Strathnaver,
and later as an independent adult through a migrant application arriving by air.
There is a foreground image, solvent release, of geometric
lines taken from Arabic geometry, skewed and disrupted, that is reminiscent of
map projection lines. The background image, of offset intaglio printed etching
and relief printed lino does not project any narrative but is intended to
convey the emptiness and scale of the ocean. There is a vast loneliness and
undifferentiated sameness to open ocean, and in rough weather a profound
terror.
The text of Intention,
in handwritten pencil, was
written as part of my ‘Conflict in History’ Residency for the Australian
Historical Association and the University of Queensland’s School of History,
Philosophy, Religion and Classic and the UQ Art Museum in the second half of
2014. It was published in Thing &
Unthing, Angela Gardner, Vagabond Press, Sydney 2014.
Both books 21 x 13.5 x 1.2 closed and 21 x 300 open
etching, linocut, solvent release, pencil on Moleskine
Japanese Album
No comments:
Post a Comment