Hard to know where we are, in history. Is this the beginning? Is it the middle? Is this the end?
We have arrived here in Wamboin, seemingly a perfect place, in terms of air and space and light, but in reality, the place is a mess on the way to ruin.
The landscape is recovering from a hundred years of grazing degradation. The previous owner made good repair with planting and the ground has somewhat recovered. Many trees were planted in the last thirty years which were not native to the area. Grasses were planted that were likewise not native. A considerable amount of earthmoving in the early 90’s distributed the rain water to parts that were not were not accustomed to it. There’s plenty of rain recently but the dams aren’t filling. Weeds abound. The land reeks of confused attitudes. We have now arrived and begun to apply our set of values which may be equally out of line within a deeper history.
The land is asset rich but broken.
An artwork may be applied to a finished place, where all the above arguments had been settled. An artwork would underscore that ‘finished’ picture.
Given that finishing the work of repair will take another hundred years, all work here is propositional and not conclusive. All artwork is applied to shifting sand and shifting meaning.
Overhead power lines run along the bottom edge of the block. Beyond the lines, 2000 acres wait to be developed. This part of the property exists in the present but sits in the future’s long shadows.
Fence Detail 1984 & 2019
Fence Detail enjoys, describes the way in which fencing wire attaches to a fencing post. The wire stops briefly at the post on its way somewhere, having come from somewhere else. It’s one of many posts in a line describing the edge of land, separating two ‘parcels’ of land from each other. We do it here, on our land to know where we stand and where others shouldn’t.
The sculpture is an accidental account of where it finds itself. The imagery is naturally compatible with the overhead power lines which accidentally ‘over line’ the boundary. The power lines, due to their function, cannot start and stop as they are able to do in the sculpture.
None the less, there is a conversation which makes the sculpture feel and look at home.
While there is conversation, there is hope for life.
We’re trying to resuscitate the place.
The works here document the condition of the land, it’s recovery and or further ruination. The placed works constitute a diary of our presence for better or worse.
This place, like like places is a metaphor for our time and describes where we stand.
Train and Fence
Fence Detail (Detail)