Tales from the bush

An ongoing project bringing home tales from the bush in Perth, Western Australia. This particular piece is about issues of ownership. Can you actually own landscape? What you are looking at is an above ground concrete pool on an abandoned property in Paulls Valley overlooking Darlington. Most other traces of the property are gone. When the place was gifted back to Kalamunda National Park (by Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck no less) it was left to be taken back by the land. Of course the land originally belonged to the Noongar people, who see themselves as the custodians of the land, rather than its owners. The white man who came by this land originally is one aspect of the piece. Land rights are another. Then there are the marks made by others who have come here. The inside of the pool and in some spots around it has been graffitied. Some amateur vandalism is another kind of mark. Objects have been left, from the original hills hoist to spray cans and energy drink containers. Everything here has an unknown, but partly guessable narrative. Now I am working there, working with and responding to the objects and the space, producing my own objects and making my own marks. Here is the first piece, "Utopia pools".