Upcoming Show: I Can Be My Own Hero
I Can Be My Own Hero continues my exploration into the landscape in the New England region. Each piece is an emotional reaction to the land but unlike my earlier works that reflected a deeply personal journey, here I contemplate the value the land has in forging our collective identity.
There is a mix of landscapes on round boards finished with epoxy as well as framed works on paper. I use a high-grade epoxy that is UV stabilised and won’t yellow with time. I love the epoxy finish because it has a dramatic impact on the colours, making them bounce off board.
Alongside the landscapes there will be a fibre instillation, depicting Mary Ann Bugg. Most often referred to as “Thuderbolt’s Lady,” Mary Ann was a bushranger in her own right and by many accounts was the driving force behind Thunderbolt’s Robin Hood persona. Thunderbolt was caught and killed not long after the pair split. This is my first real foray into working with wool, a material so important in the New England region and I hope to continue with it in the second half of this year.
Mary Ann had a total of 15 children, 5 by the time she met Thunderbolt. Born to a Worimi mother and an ex-convict father, Mary Ann had both a deep understanding of the land as well as a western education. She taught Thunderbolt to read and is credited with successfully hiding their gang in the depths of the rather unforgiving New England landscape. Once she evaded arrest by feigning labour, police officers dropping her off at a nearby town to avoid dealing with a woman giving birth. It is thought that she purposefully presented as a Maori woman, to avoid her children becoming a part of the Stolen Generations and when she was wrongfully arrested for stealing 12 yards of fabric, Mary Ann wrote letters to Sydney newspapers and drummed up such a groundswell of public support for her cause that the charges were dropped. I imagine her as someone who was incredibly clever, resourceful and strategic, with a huge capacity for caring. Many thought she died alongside Thunderbolt, possibly another myth of her own making but in reality Mary Ann lived the rest of her long life as a nurse.
I’m interested in the role art plays in modern folklore and how this is bound up in our relationship with the land and identity.
I’m particularly interested in Australia’s celebration of the larrikin, or people who choose to defy social conventions because on the whole we are actually a fairly conservative culture and it’s an odd few who get celebrated for stepping outside of the box. I am fascinated by the courage, imagination and drive that women like Mary Ann Bugg show. I hope one day she will have a statue to rival those of Thunderbolt.
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I Can Be My Own Hero is on show from 8th June 2024
Weswal Gallery, 192 Brisbane St, East Tamworth NSW 2340
