PLANTS
My relationship with Kimberley plants interweaves with my connection to people and places. Knowledge of plant properties exists through a network of sharing and relationships with others, from conversations and time spent on Country.’
‘Some plants are now part of my routine, sap as antiseptic, leaves for flavour and to induce sleep, and wood burnt to release sweet-smelling smoke. In this exhibition, I’ve drawn the Mulla Mulla and Barda Barda Soap Wattle flowers found along the roadside and bush tracks around my home and the Kimberley.
Drawing is one way to reconnect with each plant and commit to memory their edible, medicinal, and practical uses.’
BACKTRACK
“Living in the West Kimberley for over a decade, immersed in nature, has been a defining life experience. Besides years living off the grid in the savannah surrounding Booroola (Derby), as a remote arts worker I regularly moved through Wandjina Wunggurr territories while supporting community art and heritage projects.”
Backtrack, a solo exhibition by Katie Breckon, reflects the artist’s decade of living and working in the West Kimberley, with the works on display being just a small selection from her oeuvre. Originally from Pōneke Wellington, New Zealand, Breckon moved to the isolated region to become a remote arts worker. For Breckon, observing and creatively reflecting on landscape or Country has been central to feeling a sense of home.
Living and working alongside First Nations communities as a visitor on cultural homelands, Breckon is committed to finding ways to respectfully reflect her lived experience as a guest on Country. This has required her to gain permission to work creatively with imagery and maps, with Ngarinyin approvals in place for her works that chart Wilinggin Country and speak to place.
Breckon’s works are centred around mark-making practices. They reflect her observations of the natural world – depicting the plants and landmarks she’s encountered – while also rendering maps of the many journeys she’s taken. The works do not seek to map a cultural topography, but to author a personal record, a chronicling of time and experience that’s simultaneously an act of catharsis.
Breckon’s practice – rhythmic and meditative in its pace, offers a timely reminder that through generous, meaningful, two-way exchange, settler artists can find ways to creatively reflect the influence that Country, and all held within its embrace, has on them and the works they create.
Backtrack was exhibited at Fremantle Art Centre as part of Marawar-ak | From the West: Contemporary Art from Western Australia, Nov - Jan 2023 curated by Glenn Iseger-Pilkington.