Helen and I loved working together during her visit last month. Our thoughts about doing a joint project crystallised. We brainstormed the themes, gave our project a name and identified areas for each of us to follow up.
Navigating long the distance collaboration will definitely part of the artistic process, not to mention being a wonderful opportunity to spend more time together.

The idea for the project arose from a workshop I did at the Noosa Regional Gallery on Tropical Mountain Plant Rescue.

When Helen and I brainstormed “plants, climate change, people”, words like translocation, dislocation, relocation, refuge, and refugee came to mind.

Refugia became the name of our project. In biology, refugia means an area in which a population of organisms can survive through a period of unfavourable conditions, especially glaciation. In essence, it is a small isolated area that has escaped the extreme changes undergone by the surrounding area, as during a period of glaciation, allowing the survival of plants and animals from an earlier period.

This is our starting point. The collaborative mixed media piece at the top of this post might just be the first work in the series.
Dispersal, Mixed Media, Oil and plastic netting, 122.5 x 91 cm
Watch this space.