Fishbones & Wind Turbines

Devonport Regional Gallery, Little Gallery Emerging Artist Program

My art making usually starts with a story. A story of a place, a person, a mineral, an object. I went on a trip to find one of these stories, visiting the Northwest Coast over summer in 2024. I travelled up to Marrawah to stay with a dear friend, then back via the Mersey River to camp. I passed through Wynyard where family-in-laws live, and I had a coffee at Banjos in pataway/Burnie. I collected materials and researched some historical sites. In limilinaturi/Devonport I stopped to collect glass and iron along the industrial shoreline and at the lighthouse.

I didn’t find just one story, I found many. Yet, I can’t really know the stories of the places I spent only small amounts of time in. I am lucky to know families that live along this coast, and I’ve heard many stories of growing up on cattle farms; saving Jack Russels from underneath sheds when they’ve eaten too many mice; surfing wild waves and finding freshwater crays at the creek that meanders near your house; walking bare foot on hot days down the big hills to secret coves at Sisters Beach. Magic moments of growing up on rich soils and rugged, isolated coastlines. Although, like anywhere, growing up isn’t always magic. But that’s not what this show is about.

If you’re just passing through, maybe you wouldn’t notice these moments (good or bad) happening around you. But for me this show is about an impression, of the industries that are dotted along the coast, of the ferrosol rich soil, white fields of poppies with salt in the air, the smell of silage decomposing in paddocks, the sound of wind turbines in the distance and crunching fishbones in tinnies. To me, growing up down south, the Northwest always felt so far away, but now the strong impression it leaves in my mind’s eye makes it feel very close to home.

I acknowledge that these places along the NW Coast have many stories that go back long before any industry was built. It is important to note this coastline was settled by the British for its minerals, soil, fish, and rainfall. But of course, for these exact reasons Tommeginnie and Perapper Country was inhabited by and cared for, for thousands of years by Pakana people. I aim to tread lightly when I visit, only collecting materials from sites of disruption (farmed paddocks, industrial shorelines), never sacred sites or objects of cultural significance. Where possible, place names are in palawa kani, the language of Pakana/Tasmanian Aboriginal People.

Materials:

Found clay, bottle glass, pewter from Devonport Red Cross, salt, copper, milk plastic, driftwood tea tree branches, reclaimed myrtle fence post, fishbones, fencing wire, recycled electronic parts

Clay & Charcoal Workshop, 27th April:

 Come make clay objects and drawings based on your memories and/or impressions of the Northwest Coast with artist, Caitlin Fargher. Using charcoal made from Teatree branches collected in Marrawah and some clay collected outside Deloraine. You will be guided through activities that activate your memories, sharing your story of this place. Artworks will be added to the artists installation in the Little Gallery at Devonport Regional Gallery.

 Ages 16+ (littlies welcome with an adult)

Supported by Devonport City Council