Myrtle Creek Bushfires

In October 2019, bushfires burned across Northern NSW, destroying homes and claiming lives near Casino. I was driving the newly reopened Summerland Way between Grafton and Casino, and I felt compelled to respond. The charred landscape was vast and eerie; rain fell heavily as stumps still smouldered in drought-stricken country.

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At Myrtle Creek, I placed small sheets of cotton paper beneath burnt logs and rocks, leaving them in the soot and rain to record the site’s marks. I returned the next day to collect the stained papers and charred sticks.

These works are made using ink from crushed fire-blackened timber and papers weathered in the aftermath. They reflect fragility, loss and desolation, but also resilience—green shoots and Banksias emerging from ash. They stand as quiet testaments to destruction, renewal and the raw beauty of a fire-ravaged landscape.

 

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