I Go Down To The Shore

I go down to the shore in the morning

and depending on the hour the waves

are rolling in or moving out,

and I say, oh, I am miserable,

what shall - 

what should I do? And the sea says

in its lovely voice:

Excuse me, I have work to do.

                    - Mary Oliver, from A Thousand Mornings 2012

 

This exhibition explores three extraordinary places on the Victorian east coast and NSW south coast:

  • Gabo Island – hard red granite on the edge of the brilliant white sands of Croajingalong National Park.
  • Cape Dromedary – bound by beautiful spotted gum forest in the lee of Gulaga (Mt Dromedary).
  • Guerilla Bay – some of the oldest rocks on the east coast – laid down some 450 million years ago.

In these places it is very hard not to be aware of the time differential – planet versus the very short time frame of humanity. It is also difficult not to be aware of something more, some extraordinary intrinsic liveliness. These places are alive. Sand and rock, the tremulous connection between land and sea. As the sea rises, the land retreats.

The Sublime sought to express the power and awe of nature, where the sense of self is diminished in the face of the larger reality. We are now beyond the sublime – it is difficult to see any outcome where nature does not repay our arrogant disrespect.

Many of these works reflect the ending of the day – the transition of day to night – the time between something and nothing, the time that can linger or go quickly, when everything is heightened, in the place which is the point of change from solid to elusive.

The paintings and drawings are of these places and times, exploring those moments between something and nothing, to make some small act of respect.

 

Photography by Panisa Ongwat @nina_panisa

Click on image to enlarge.