borers and tarpaulins on Bimblebox

The hosho tarp hangs between burnt yellow jacket trees

Imprinting borer markings on tarpaulin
Photograph by Jill Sampson Artlink Vol 33 2013
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At B

imblebox in September 2013 I carried a paper tarpaulin into the landscape which was made by a canvas tarpaulin maker. Already it was showing signs of tearing and folding by the process of sewing the pieces of hosho paper together by a commercial sewing machine.

Moving across the nature refuge I tied the tarpaulin over ‘demarcated’ areas of shrubby heathlands, spinifex communities, pockets of yellow jacket trees and grasses. This canopied gesture symbolized the protection or isolation of these ecosystems and the histories they represent.

In the studio, a blended liquid of charcoal collected from controlled burning on Bimblebox from the eucalyptus populnae (bimblebox or poplar box) is applied to the paper by different methods of soaking, splattering or imprinting. 

Another tarpaulin is made from tyvek and has been frottaged to resemble ancient text or sacred inscription. These hieroglyphic marks are made by rubbing graphite over borer indentations from hollow trees. I imagine the markings to be some form of divine thinking or message as was the case in ancient civilizations. This technique of rubbings or ‘frottage’ is also a way of conveying an absolute concrete reality or a proof of existence.

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