Watch your Step
Maitland Regional Art Gallery
18 March - 4 June 2023

Watch your step, 2023
hand cut paper, resin
dimensions vary, 750 x leaves, 6 x mice

In the summer of 2021, against of backdrop of drought, bushfire and pandemic, conversations through regional communities quickly became fixated on the summer mice infestation. By autumn, tiny rodent bodies lay among the fallen autumn leaves.

Through a reflective and laborious practice, fragile paper leaves and delicate lace-like representations explore the harsh qualities of the Australian landscape. Paved footpaths appear to capture the annual fallen leaves, but upon deeper enquiry reveal the loss, fear and cost of the mouse plague on regional and rural communities, along with our greater ongoing tension with the environment.