garrandarang (2021)
Text light projection against wood
8:00 mins
AE production: Solomon Thomas
Commissioned for Eucalyptusdom, 2021, Powerhouse Ultimo – Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences

There is an ancient landscape beneath our feet. One full of care, of knowledge, of love and song. No colonial intervention can alter the truth of Country. This work is not a eulogy to the forests that should stand here, it is a reminder they still stand. As Australian forests dwindle, our eucalypts spread unwelcome offshore. Do our ancestors follow them, to continue a relationship older than time? In the face of climate disaster, how can we return to listening to our trees, caring for Country?
Garrandarang spreads out in a light projection within the footprint of a huge tree. Evoking tree rings, the text appears to challenge colonial assumptions of this place, and to remind audiences to fight for our forests.