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Alison Clouston & Boyd
Dhalawala – Forest Country | 2022
Dhalawala – Forest Country. @ Band Rotunda Kandos Community Centre Hall
A big tree lies inside the community hall, a black cypress Yuwambi, salvaged from the fireground. From its roots a shimmering network of hammered metal reaches out to 50 of its living seedlings, evoking the underground mycorrhizal relationship that assists a forest to regenerate. Dabee Wiradjuri speakers teach words for forest and community, leading a procession of volunteers who deliver the seedlings. The Eclectica Choir sings a specially composed work, Arboresco (Latin: ‘to become a tree’). An original soundtrack permeates the installation. (An adjunct sound installation “Guraban”, like the fruiting body of the main installation, will run at the Band Rotunda.) Visitors are invited to make their own sculptural contributions. After the festival the tree’s seedlings will be planted back into the land. Contributing artists: Emma Syme from North East Wiradjuri Cultural Centre, Uncle Peter Swain, Eclectica Choir conducted by Tracey Callinan, ’Crackers’ Bangamaldhaany. Special thanks: Ginny Handmer, Nick Powell. 4:30pm–6:30pm Saturday 21 May: Meet at the Band Rotunda 4:30pm, learn Wiradjuri words with Emma Syme, procession to Hall, ceremony with Eclectica Community Choir.
bio:
Visual artist Alison Clouston and sound artist Boyd collaborate, bringing together Boyd’s background as a multi-instrumentalist and composer with Alison’s sculpture and installation. They have shown work in forests, Historic Houses Trust buildings, the Museum of Sydney, Heide, Te Papa Tongarewa & Bowen Galleries in NZ, AGNSW, Articulate, and numerous regional galleries. Committed to participatory art, they have worked with diverse communities, engaging over 153 musicians for the award-winning work for ‘Coalface’ 2014, that toured Australia. For ‘NatureLovers’, (a Bundanon Trust commission 2017) they involved over 60 musicians, visual artists and visitors. The pair won the Fishers Ghost Contemporary Art Award in 2021. They are working on a survey show for Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in June 22 and will exhibit at Broken Hill Regional Gallery in 2023.
statement:
We have been making work about trees for decades now, inspired by them and by the human philosophies, science and stories around them. The extinction crisis and climate change affect everything we do – we sense that art might nurture the imagination and compassion we need for positive social change. And so we invite participation from the diverse communities in which we are privileged to work, on Gandangara, Dharawal and Dabee Wiradjuri lands.
Band Rotunda Kandos Community Centre Hall
