In May 2022 I participated in a weekend print workshop at the Creators Artspace in Wodonga, who were hosting one of the OVERWINTERING projects run by Kate GorringeSmith and Bronwyn Rees. We spent time in the Wonga Wetlands, exploring a place that was originally a wetland, then farmland, and over the recent years has been transformed back into wetland. A series of lagoons, grasslands and woodlands are home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. In winter, when I was there, most of the lagoons were covered in a small plant, a fern I think, an incredible shade of the most vivid green.

I returned to the wetlands a number of times during my long weekend stay and collected bits and pieces of plants to create this eco print on my return home. I used a heavy cartridge paper, which softened and tore a little in printing process. It’s fragility providing a metaphor for the vulnerability for a land that has been at times poorly treated. I added watercolour, images and thread to the concertina book to describe some of the journey of this beautiful environment.

This is a work that requires close looking, of focussing the eyes to notice the things that are barely visible.

Opening October 2022, with Kate GorringeSmith and Helen Haines MP.