...staking claim

habitus – habitat : great!walks art & environment

hervey bay regional gallery, 2005/6

queensland academy | creative industries, 2008

The Gil’la (native bee) workshops offered a unique opportunity to connect with Fraser Island through not only the ‘white’ tourist experience but also through the eyes of Fiona Foley and the Badtjala people.

With the encounter adding a deep personal awareness of the island’s history, my resulting works inform and reveal an abrupt stop to cultural practices and a broken knowledge of a people with a rich history.  The layers of our journey on the island, the conflict imposed on a sacred land, a culture buried over time, an overwhelming sense of loss, denial and silence; the breathtaking beauty of the pristine Fraser Island environment veils hidden elements of intervention, collision and dislocation.

Document of Sign Post 1 Fiona Foley (personal photograph of ‘my’ post)

...staking claim is a direct response to the experience of working alongside Fiona Foley and the privilege of sharing in her knowledge and attachment to Fraser Island.

A poignant metaphor for the bureaucracy faced by Fiona and her people in their native title land claim became apparent through my involvement in her collaborative installation, where participants wrapped the weathered and aged Mackenzie’s Jetty in red tape.  This metaphor is explored further in my own video installation work which references my input to 'Sign Post 1' and an animation created on the beach with culturally significant objects from the site.

Glenda Hobdell © 2005