"i sit on the verandah outside the art centre, the ladies are inside chatting over their black tea and toasted sandwiches, piggles (the community pig) trots up and begins to pester me for his breakfast, closely followed by the local dogs. when the ladies are done we get to work. i file down the edges of each copper etching plate for the artist. as they draw they share with me stories of their art: landscapes of their country, bush tucker, animal tracks. this is Ngapartji Ngapartiji', 'I give you something you give me something'.

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words couldn't always penetrate the language barrier, but art always could. they thought i was brilliant, i thought they were brilliant colours and culture dissolves, the connection that remains is in deep respect for the art.

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My Ten weeks in Titjikala, a remote indigenous community on the edge of the Simpson Desert were magical. It was a transformative experience. i became less of who i thought i was and more of who i really am. Remembered myself, you could say. 

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At night i would run. there were two tracks i would take, one down to the river bed and the other around the cattle sheds. i would watch the sun hit the horizon every day. every single sunset was different the colours unique, i became aware of my prior disconnection from nature and how important nature, silence and stillness is to me especially an artist.

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Then i would go home and put my horizons on paper, i would try and capture the colours, the layers that i saw, it was the first time i had absolutely no distractions. There was nothing except me and the night.

 

These artworks are my horizons. This is my time in titjikala."

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2015