Paper exhibition draws inspiration from flood and fire
The spirit of resilience and reimagining a better future have been captured in works by two artists in Scenic Rim Regional Council's first exhibition of 2023, Paper.
Opening on 9 January and running until 11 March at The Centre Beaudesert, Paper combines contemporary artworks by Heather Matthew and Zela Bissett, sharing their personal journeys of home, resilience, hope and recovery through the medium of handmade paper.
For Heather Matthew, paper is an often overlooked and undervalued material which can be embedded with meaning.
"As an artist, I use the fragility and strength of paper as a metaphor for new ways to consider our capacity for resilience," she said.
"Many of the works in this exhibition were created as my artistic responses to an artist residency at the Curtin Springs Station in Central Australia in 2019, together with new artworks created as a response to the floods in February 2022.
"In the papermaking studio in Central Australia, I created papers of native grasses infused with red desert clay and black clay from under the saltpans, which were then rusted with obsolete farm and domestic objects.
"Many of these artworks explore what it means to reside in a place for generations, to build stories of occupancy wrought by time and the elements."
Just as Heather has incorporated in her handmade paper hessian fibres from the sandbags used to protect her home from floodwater, Zela Bissett has used burnt bark and charcoal from the 2020 bushfire that devastated K'gari, also known as Fraser Island, in her artworks.
As a high school student in the 1970s, Zela knew John Sinclair, a man who shared the traditional Butchulla people's love of K'gari and devoted much of his life to campaigning against sand-mining, logging and the island's overuse.
"After K’gari was given World Heritage listing, beautiful photos of her tall forests, cool creeks, shining sands, her deep crystal-clear lakes were circulated all around the world and current figures suggest almost half a million people visit K’gari every year," she said.
"In 2020, a fire lit by campers burned for six weeks until one-third of K’gari’s vegetation had turned to smoke and cinders. For many weeks, I could not overcome feelings of sadness."
It was during this period that Zela created her Firestorm series of artworks before the temperature dropped, gusty winds blew and healing rain began to fall.
"For the following months, I worked to create artworks that celebrated the return to life of the post fire-world," Zela said.
"I felt that in doing so, I was adding my life forces to the effort to repair K’gari - joining the residents building water tanks, the volunteers collecting seed and germinating it, the rangers planting new trees, the birds building new nests and the wily mares giving birth to forbidden foals in the thickets.
"This body of work tells a story of loss and the rebirth of hope."
Scenic Rim Arts Reference Group Chair Cr Michael Enright encouraged members of the community to join in the free exhibition launch at 10.30am on Saturday 4 February to meet the artists and learn more about the inspiration behind their works and their contemporary papermaking practices.
"This is the first exhibition of our 2023 under the theme of Reimagine: explore the possibilities, and I am tremendously excited about the rich cultural program Scenic Rim Regional Council has planned for the year ahead," he said.
Although this is a free event open to all, RSVPs are required for catering and can be made online via the liveatthecentre.com.au/ website or by telephoning The Centre box office on 07 5540 5050.
The free exhibition is open at The Centre Beaudesert from Tuesday to Friday, 10am to 4pm, and Saturday from 10am to 2pm, with the exception of public holidays.
Image 1: Heather Matthew’s Scorcher draws on the fragility and strength of paper as a metaphor for new ways to consider individuals’ capacity for resilience.
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