the national CARILLON : hurry to where they still (bloom)
BRUTAL TRANSFORMATIONs 2022
For this years Brutal Transformation Project I have recast the National Carillon as Memorial to ‘Colour Lost from the Landscape’. The print series called “hurry to where they still (bloom)’ references the poem ‘Lead’ by Mary Oliver and is a lament to habitat loss, or specifically in the poem, to the mass death of Loons in North America due to lead poisoning.
The National Carillon was a gift to Australia from Britain in 1970. It stands on an artificial island, in an artificial lake. It was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, and the island itself is now named after her. Fifty-two years later I look at this geometric bell tower and wonder. What is it really for. What is the point?
As I listened to Ngambri elder Matilda House speak about her childhood camped on the Molongolo, fishing and catching turtle, just over there, between the High Court and Anzac Parade…I felt acutely aware of the loss of that place, the loss of habitat created by the construction of the lake.
I feel conflicted over my appreciation and enjoyment of the lake. I love to see the flat plane of water, the ever changing reflections of the sky, the mists rising in winter, the views of handsome Brutalist buildings arranged along the sinuous shore, and the mountain ranges beyond. Canberra is a beautiful city.
After researching the Carillon’s history and design, I have to say I found the whole thing pretty facile. Unsatisfying. In this Brutal Transformation series I have created a series of colour palettes representing the Critically Endangered Temperate Grassland Habitat that once flourished along the Molongolo River. I have superimposed the colours of the lost landscape colours onto the National Carillon.
It’s a memorial, not for the Queen, but for what we’ve lost here, and what we need to learn to see. One day, I want to see a spring festival of flowers by the lake, one that celebrates the flora of this land, and of this Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country.
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Deakin Office
Colour Transformation by Lymesmith
Deakin Office
Photograph by Jakub Beseda
PASTE UP LOCATIONs - OCTOBER 2022
National Carillon Paste-Up 2022 as part of Canberra Art Biennial (Contour 556)
hurry to where they still (bloom), Canberra Art Biennale 2022
CARILLON PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAKUB BESEDA
Canberra architect and photographer Jakub Beseda skilfully captured the Carillon images which I have used as the basis of these works. You can see more of Jakub’s work on Instagram @jakub.beseda
Artist
Sonia van de Haar – Lymesmith
Photographer
Jakub Beseda
Graphic Design
Christie Fearns Studio
Paste Up Ninjas
Sonia van de Haar, Georgia Winz, Bronte Bell, Michael Tawa
Partners
Canberra Art Biennale / Contour556
