GOLDFIELDS
Dawn Roe, artist and Assistant Professor of Art at Rollins College in Florida, suggested us to take a look at her portfolio. We are pleased to introduce here some images taken from the work in progress “The Goldfields”, along with a text written by the author. In general, the research and the work of Dawn, which makes use of different audiovisual media, impressed us with its intense introspective ability. The nature, the forest, with their representation, become object and space for physical and digital display, relations and interaction. We are very interested in her work, critique approach and dialogue with natural environments, so hopefully we will bring you more insights in the future…
Steve Bisson
«The imagery that comprises this series was collected during an artist’s residency in the region of Australia known as The Goldfields, situated in the vast bushlands north of Melbourne. The rich histories contained within this area of Victoria can be easily overlooked, as the surroundings are seemingly nondescript and readily familiar to those who know the space of the forest, either through personal experience, folklore or myth. Drawing upon our collective response to recognizable sites and scenes has been a focus of my practice for several years. This work continues to question how we situate ourselves in the present, based upon our individual and shared impressions of the past, and speculation of the future.
«During my time in Victoria, I became increasingly interested in the post-contact history of gold mining in the region, and its effects on the transformation of the land, both physically and culturally. “A human landscape as we find in settler states such as Australia [will] always be originally bifold rather than unary – will always be historical rather than purely ecological and evolutionary, will always make visible [relations] of space, difference and opposition.” (Weiner, J. F., 2011). The troublesome nature of these shared histories forms the basis of the narratives contained within these sites. Though not always visible, the abandoned mine shafts that pierce the grounds throughout these woodlands serve as markers, unearthing a complex web reaching back to the era of the first gold strikes. The cyclical nature of time as witnessed through the regenerative life of the forest continually brings these stories back to the surface».
«In an effort to maintain an emphasis upon this relentless push/pull between past and present moments, I continue to work with paired and multiple images in the form of still photographs and digital video. Only a glimpse of each space portrayed is offered, with each scene represented as a distinctly separate perception, often excluding or obscuring fragments of trees, rock, land and sky. While much of the source imagery is comprised of non-manipulated, found portions of landscape, certain scenes are constructed and some are created within the studio. Gold glitter, fabric and other materials have been incorporated as a visual reference to mining as well as to loosely suggest the unsettling imagery of gothic fairytales that intermingle with these narratives, contributing to this unstable sense of place.»
This project acknowledges the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Victoria.
© All copyright remains with Dawn Roe