A journey like Eden

In 2020, I had the privilege of participating in a creative exchange between members of the Canberra arts community and local regional indigenous artists and leaders – the ANU Bundian Way Arts Exchange. The Bundian Way is an ancient pathway through south-east Australia, from Targangal (Mt Kosciuszko) down to Bilgalara (Fisheries beach, Twofold Bay) in the vicinity of the small coastal township of Eden. It has immense shared historic and cultural significance. A Journey Like Eden is my response to the landscape of the coastal culmination of the Bundian Way – Yuin country. I wanted to capture the feeling of physically moving though this space, with its creeping, dense and intractable vines, spiky hakea, soft peeling paperbarks and gnarled banksia; the skins of trees that both grip onto and sustain life. The nurturing sculptural forms of its rocks and its shell middens. The young humpback whales piercing the surface of its ocean, on their seasonal southern migration to Antarctic waters. The sense of immersion in a littoral landscape that is both ancient and constantly revealing and renewing itself, shedding its skin and re-forming. In a time of global pandemic, the sense of being in a liminal space, a space of transition and flux, was acute. Having the privilege of being able to travel independently to the Eden region and physically explore a landscape that few could enjoy at this time intensified my appreciation of the magnificence of this earthly space. The significance of the opportunity for us to transition to a new space of insight, mutual understanding and respect also felt acute; to deepen our appreciation for the places we inhabit, their cultural significance, and the people with whom we share them. The opportunity to transition into a new era for indigenous and non-indigenous Australians – and into a space we can share, with authenticity and humility, and move through together.