| Summary: | This exhibition is a visual investigation into ‘place’ in North Queensland. To focus investigations, I followed the paths of early explorers and settlers to investigate sites where they crossed paths. In the main these sites are remote. As the artist/explorer, I travelled to those places to understand the physical terrain where different groups and cultures, including First Nations peoples, walked the same tracks. As I gathered my visual data during field trips I attempted to follow as near as possible the path of an explorer, Aboriginal inhabitant or settler. In the sites I immersed myself in ‘place’ and tried to imagine the explorer in place, experiencing a constant unease of the unknown. The process of travel and lived experience was necessary to understand the environment in sentience: to feel the heat, see the wind move the trees, see the water running in the river, and experience the isolation and loneliness. In the main I have chosen water crossings, as these are the life force of the traveller from whatever time in history. In between the land is dry and I imagine the hardships this type of country would bring. I began to comprehend and imagine ‘place’ in new creative ways.
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