Stars, Night Herons and the Politics of Envy
4 May 2024 – 25 May 2024

Defiance Gallery
12 Mary Place
Paddington NSW 2021

Stars, Night Herons and the Politics of Envy

‘Stars, Night Herons & the Politics of Envy’ is born of the 22/23 flood season. I live on a delta. An inland delta created by the dispersal of water across the landscape downstream from the ‘narrows’ or choke of the Murray River. Thule Lagoon where I reside and work is in Barapa Barapa country in the midst of this important ephemeral landscape. These works come from experience of place over time, with underlying stories of advocating for natural landscape.

Water awakens this country. Still water bodies reflect an expansive sky, filling with stars on clear nights. Our farm and lagoon ecosystems have been humming with the industry of water birds nesting to make use of the abundance. The red gold Nankeen Night Herons are part of the mix. Nocturnal water feeders, they shyly hide in the redgum canopies during the day. To me they are mysterious symbols of ecosystems that have cycled and thrived here for millennia. To the Barapa Barapa people they are an important totem.

Deeper context of the function of these places, is provided by ongoing research at The Pollack Swamp, Barapa Barapa village site (Pardoe, Hutton 2021).  A model of targeted environmental restoration using Aboriginal cultural heritage as a ‘proxy’ for biodiversity has been developed  … the premise being that places where people have lived most permanently over thousands of years are logically the places with the most reliable water and rich, food source ecosystems. Local traditional owners, landholders and the community have rallied around this magical micro site. A place of refuge and renewal. A wider community vision for our forests and wetlands has been co-designed and published. Collectively, we are finding our voice. In the Spring of 23 we shared grief and disbelief when a government agency decision over ruled local land managers to withdraw environmental water from the site. The water bird colony, preparing to breed for the second consecutive year, abandoned their nests.

Achieving positive environmental legacy is extremely difficult in any system where power and policy are embedded in a ‘top down’ cultural model and locals are excluded and diminished. Outcomes and motivations are thus removed from place. Such a system allows community values, deep cultural knowledge and site specific, evidential science to be ignored or dismissed by government agencies using broad brushed policy for political atonement. How do we make sense of this? Maybe a power shift to the people of place creates a politics of envy?

I take comfort in the work of nature writer Wendell Berry. His words from his 2017 publication, The World-Ending Fire, accompany me as I paint. I love his advocacy for the value of knowledge of landscape in caring for environment  …  his assertion that lived, deep experience of place will  carry the knowledge of how a place may be well and lovingly used, and also the implicit command to use it ONLY well and lovingly’ (Berry, p115) .I carry these thoughts forward as an antidote to the politics of envy.

Wendy McDonald 2024

References:
Colin Pardoe, Dan Hutton, Aboriginal heritage as ecological proxy in south-eastern Australia: a Barapa wetland village, Australasian Journal of Environmental Management, 2021 Wendell Berry, The World-Ending Fire, Penguin Books, 2017.

Artworks in Exhibition

Wendy_McDonald_2024_Stars_Night_Herons_and_the_Politics_of_Envy
Stars, Night Herons and the Politics of Envy
280cm (W) x 120cm (H)
acrylic on linen (diptych, each 143.5x123cm panel framed)
Wendy_McDonald_2024_The_Pollack_(that_time_the_birds_left)
The Pollack (that time the birds left)
90cm (W) x 90cm (H)
acrylic on linen
SOLD
Wendu_McDonald_2024_Night_Heron,_Thule_Lagoon
Night Heron, Thule (before and after us)
90cm (W) x 90cm (H)
acrylic on linen
SOLD
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Night_of_30,000_Years,_(don't_treat_us_with_contempt)
Night of 30,000 Years (don't treat us with contempt)
90cm (W) x 90cm (H)
acrylic on linen
SOLD
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Autumn_with_Paper_Daisies_Koondrook_Perricoota_Forest 2
Autumn with paper Daisies, Koondrook Perricoota Forest
80cm (W) x 90cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Mature_Trees,_The_Pollack
Mature Trees the Pollack (show us the science)
40cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Floodmarks,_Thule_Lagoon
Floodmarks, Thule Lagoon
40cm (W) x 400cm (H)
acrylic on linen
SOLD
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Spring_Full_of_Hope
Spring Full of Hope, The Pollack
40cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Dream_Trees_The_Pollack_(tell_someone_who_cares)
Dream Trees, The Pollack (tell someone who cares)
40cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Renewal,_Glencoe_Wetland
Renewal, Glencoe Wetland
33.5cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Community_Vision,_Koondrook_Perricoota_Forest
Community Vision, Koondrook Perricoota Forest
33.5cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Night_Walking,_Dark_Water
Night Walking, Dark Water
33.5cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
SOLD
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Studio_View,_Water_Receding
Studio View, Water Receding
33.5cm (W) x 40cm (H)
acrylic on linen
Wendy_McDonald_2024_White_Faced_Heron,_Thule_Lagoon
White faced Heron, Thule Lagoon
23cm (W) x 23cm (H)
acrylic on board
SOLD
Wendy_McDonald_2024_Night_with_Boat,_Thule_Lagoon
Night with Boat, Thule Lagoon
23cm (W) x 23cm (H)
acrylic on board

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