Beneath Horizons: Australian Desert Landscape
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Beneath Horizons: Australian Desert Landscape Julia Featherstone Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Studio Practice Research degree of Master of Fine Arts College of Fine Arts University of New South Wales March 2014 ORIGINALITY STATEMENT ‘I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at UNSW or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at UNSW or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project's design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged.’ Signed .............. Date .............. COPYRIGHT STATEMENT ‘I hereby grant the University of New South Wales or its agents the right to archive and to make available my thesis or dissertation in whole or part in the University libraries in all forms of media, now or here after known, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I retain all proprietary rights, such as patent rights. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis or dissertation. I also authorise University Microfilms to use the 350 word abstract of my thesis in Dissertation Abstract International (this is applicable to doctoral theses only). I have either used no substantial portions of copyright material in my thesis or I have obtained permission to use copyright material; where permission has not been granted I have applied/will apply for a partial restriction of the digital copy of my thesis or dissertation.' Signed ........................... Date ........................... AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT ‘I certify that the Library deposit digital copy is a direct equivalent of the final officially approved version of my thesis. No emendation of content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are the result of the conversion to digital format.’ Signed ........................... Date ........................... ii Acknowledgements The MFA thesis and artwork depended on the excellent support of the College of Fine Arts, the University of New South Wales and these particular people: John Hughes, my supervisor, for his dedication and enthusiasm for all things moving in the landscape and his insistence that I dig deep to find the essence of my explorations and work in the Australian desert. Sylvia Ross, my co-supervisor, who came in late, and was a fantastic help in the final stages of my thesis writing and in culling work for my exhibition. Gabrielle Finnane, for recommending my initial MFA proposal, supervising my work during first semester and providing theoretical focus. Shivaun Weybury, UNSW Learning Centre, for her excellent thesis writing workshop and her insistence that every claim I made was substantiated. And significantly, my travelling partner Alasdair Macfarlane, who wired and fired our solar panels for digital cameras, computers and fridges and without whom I'd still be bogged in the Simpson Desert, or out trying to fix a broken axle! I would also like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land over which I travelled. i Conferences During my research, I presented three research papers at conferences and also represented UNSW Art & Design (College of Fine Arts) as a finalist in UNSW’s Three Minute Thesis Challenge 2011: Conferences and Research Papers: 1. National Institute for Experimental Art Post Graduate Conference 2011, UNSW Conference Theme: What is Experimentation? Research Paper: Beneath Horizons: Psyche and the Australian Desert 2. Art Association of Australia and New Zealand 2012, USYD Conference Theme: together< >apart Research Paper: Where the crows: toxic implications of the colour yellow 3. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences Post Graduate Symposium 2012, UNSW Conference Topic: Making Tracks Research Paper: In their footsteps UNSW Three Minute Thesis Challenge 2011 Finalist representing UNSW Art & Design Title: Gibson’s Compass Paper: Why don't 90% of Australians go to the desert? ii Abstract While playing classical piano music written by European composers in arid Winton, QLD, my mother grew up wishing she was elsewhere. In 1929, aged thirteen years, her dedication to the European canon was rewarded with a music Diploma and the right to append the letters A.L.C.M. by the London College of Music (see fig. 44). My mother was not alone in her desire for recognition and acclaim by European culture. White Australians obsession with British and European culture, landscape and history throughout the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries, is well documented. In fact, the tendency to deny those aspects of Australian reality that are perceived to be strange, unpalatable or inconvenient continues in Australia today. My research Beneath Horizons: Australian Desert Landscapes, analyses certain preconceptions, such as fear of a vast and dangerous void, that are held by many urban- dwelling Australians who cling to the metaphorical rim of the continent, rarely venturing inside to experience the desert for themselves. Consequently, our concept of the desert is configured from cultural histories, mythologies, maps, televisual and cinematic constructs. We imagine the desert, but without going there. We don’t immerse ourselves in the desert space, experience the freedom of endless space, or see expansive horizons that activate our senses and transform the desert into a spiritual place. The installation Red Desert Project for example, offers urban-dwellers a micro-experience of being out there in the red sand desert. My research focused on the ground beneath me to locate my presence as an observer at a particular time and place in the desert landscape. I engaged daily with the forces of nature that continually transformed the desert floor of that place. I made three journeys to the desert, camping in remote sites significant to colonial explorers to experiment and record my experiences with the forces of nature and to map ever-changing details of the living desert. I wanted to gain insights into why my mother avoided the arid landscape of her childhood and why most Australians avoid the central deserts of Australia. This research aimed to map the perceived emptiness of the desert landscape and contribute iii to an increased perception and awareness of the movement of time and space in the imagined desert landscape of Australia, so that people may be encouraged to treat the land, along with its Indigenous custodians, with more insight, empathy and respect. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... i Conferences ............................................................................................................... ii Abstract ...................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ...................................................................................................... v List of Figures ........................................................................................................... vi Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1 Poetics of the Australian Desert ............................................................. 4 1.1 Outside | Inside ............................................................................................... 4 1.2 Kangaroo, Mad Max and Something More ......................................... 12 1.3 Changing Perceptions of the Void ........................................................ 14 Chapter 2 Experimental Fields .................................................................................. 20 2.1 Vibrant Matter ............................................................................................ 25 Chapter 3 Mapping the Emptiness ............................................................................ 27 3.1 Horizon .......................................................................................................... 29 Beneath my Boots ..................................................................................................... 31 Bird’s Eye of Disappointment .............................................................................. 34 3.2 Shadow .............................................................................................................. 1 Alchemy of the Sun ...................................................................................................... 4 Leaves of Time .............................................................................................................. 7 Shadow of the Flesh ................................................................................................. 10 3.3 Alien Objects ............................................................................................... 12 Gibson's Compass ..................................................................................................... 13 Shelter