HOLDING GROUND
what matters and what needs to be held close
BADGER BATES
SOPHIE CAPE
LUCY CULLITON
JO DAVENPORT
JULIE HARRIS
JANET LAURENCE
EUAN MACLEOD
MAC MADERSKI
IDRIS MURPHY
ANGUS NIVISON
LAE OLDMEADOW
JULIE PATERSON
SIMON REECE
MARK SEIFFERT
IMANTS TILLERS
JOHN R WALKER
JOHN WOLSELEY
HOLDING GROUND
what matters and what needs to be held close
curated by Gavin Wilson
7 March - 3 May 2026
HOLDING GROUND
what matters and what needs to be held close
LAE OLDMEADOW Worm, Totem of Contemplation No. 7 2022 (detail)
palm fibre, padded with organic cotton, acrylic paint 176 x 34 x 10cm Private Collection
INTRODUCTION
HOLDING GROUND with its focus on the state of New South Wales, is a timely exhibition that draws on works from 17 leading artists who have demonstrated a long-standing allegiance to place. A diverse range of 50 works including paintings, graphics, sculpture, photography, installation, ceramics and textiles have been sourced from participating artists, private collectors and regional galleries.
Works selected have been inspired from regions ranging from the Riverina, the Monaro, the Baarka/ Darling River, the Southern Tablelands, the Blue Mountains, the Central West, New England and the Northern Rivers. The scope and quality of the works will compel audiences to look more closely into the complex makeup of the places they inhabit: places that sustain the fragile web of life in a time of unprecedented climate chaos, coupled with on-going, unsustainable development.
HOLDING GROUND is a timely recognition of what matters and what needs to be held close.
Gavin Wilson Exhibition curator
HOLDING GROUND
Adrift in a looming climate catastrophe, extreme weather events will continue to hasten the harsh reality of our times. The sacred nature of the fragile eco-systems that sustain life as we know it, are being constantly desecrated. Tragically we appear incapable of uncoupling the growth paradigm from our crippled planet. The idea of so called ‘sustainable growth’ is questionable. The need to rethink ways of living is fast upon us.
In September 2025, the federal minister for Climate Change & Energy came forward with an overdue assessment of the situation, pointing out that the cascading impact of climate change is now inevitable due to the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Even before the Trump administration declared climate change ‘a hoax’, the global community appeared unwilling to embrace critical changes to energy production and consumption. In this constantly evolving scenario, the future appears grim. For instance, droughts will intensify; warming sea temperatures will see flooding rains and coastal inundation – agriculture and infrastructure will suffer – economic costs will escalate – housing will remain out of reach for generations to come.
The selection of works for the exhibition Holding Ground focuses on the State of New South Wales. The 50 works chosen have been inspired from regions ranging from the Riverina, the Monaro, the Baaka/ Darling River, the Southern Tablelands, the South Coast, the Blue Mountains, the Central West, New England and the Northern Rivers. The works reflect how localised landscape values have the potential to open a wiser more urgent discussion on the fate of Mother Earth and our place in it. The works chosen from 17 leading artists include paintings, graphics, photography, sculpture, ceramics and textiles. The artists include Badger Bates, Sophie Cape, Lucy Culliton, Jo Davenport, Julie Harris, Janet Laurence, Euan Macleod, Mac Maderski, Idris Murphy, Angus Nivison, Lae Oldmeadow, Julie Paterson, Simon Reece, Mark Seiffert, Imants Tillers, John R Walker, and John Wolseley. The overall emphasis of the exhibition focuses on the disparate state of the region’s natural systems that include regenerative land practices along with the impact of unfettered industrialisation and development.
As the continent creaks under the constant impact of global warming, prolonged droughts will expand the threat of bushfire and threaten fragile eco-systems in marginal environments. In Prayer for rain 2020, Cooma-based artist Imants Tillers confronted his drought-stricken terrain. A field of native daisies in Prayer for Rain , at times struggle in sub-alpine conditions such as the Mount Kosciuszko region near the artist’s family home at Cooma. The work incorporates a quote attributed to the nineteenth-century English poet, G.M. Hopkins: MINE THOU LORD OF LIFE, SEND MY ROOTS RAIN. This quote could be read as a plea for the physical and spiritual essentials to sustain life in an arid land.
IMANTS TILLERS
Prayer for Rain 2020
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 54 canvas boards 228.3 x 213.3cm
Courtesy the artist & Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
In the Critical Forests , Tillers was initially inspired by photographs of a beech forest outside Koln by the German artist Gerhard Richter. In addition, the title of the series came from the German philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder who described his writings on aesthetics as ‘critical forests’ divided into what he called ‘groves’. Looking at Critical Forests 11,12,13, there appears to be a kind of complexity in the structure of the paintings that corelates to the experience one encounters in bushland – the universal interconnectedness of the natural world.
IMANTS TILLERS
Critical Forests 11 2024
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 32 canvas 203.2 x 142.2cm
Courtesy the artist & Milani Gallery
IMANTS TILLERS
Critical Forests 12 2024
synthetic polymer paint, gouache
Courtesy the artist & Milani
gouache on 32 canvas 203.2 x 142.2cm Gallery
IMANTS TILLERS
Critical Forests 13 2024
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 32 canvas 203.2 x 142.2cm
Courtesy the artist & Milani Gallery
The painter Lucy Culliton has lived at Bibbenluke in the Snowy Monaro region of New South Wales for the past 17 years. Subjects for her paintings are drawn from the world around her, such as the ever growing garden and her menagerie of rescue animals and birds. Add to this, panoramic vistas beyond her property – vistas of regeneration that have inspired the artist over the past decade. The property she has closely observed stretches along the Cambalong Creek in Gunningrah belongs to her friend and neighbour Charlie Maslin, a regenerative farmer. In support of her painting, In Gunningrah 2025, the artist described the practice: ‘Livestock are rotated in cell paddocks so the grass has long breaks from the wear and tear of animals. Charlie has built leaky weirs along the creek so large ponds hold water longer in dry times. Grasses and reeds grow along the edges of the banks so erosion isn’t an issue. All good farming practices in my mind.’
LUCY CULLITON
Gunningrah 2025 oil on canvas 199 x 122cm Private Collection
As the artist points out, ‘I have been making paintings for years now of these special places that include the nearby property, Yambulla. The landholder, Jim Osborne, considers himself a temporary custodian in a long line of people who have cared for this particular patchwork of precious ecosystems. Eschewing the prevailing paradigms he combines old ways and new ways to make this land the best it can be. In my work I hope to capture the layers and light that reflect the valley’s role as a keeping place for the stories and knowledge of everyone who has walked across it. And demand us to consider our responsibility for protecting its future.
In these paintings I commend the work accomplished, it’s more than sustainability it’s the regeneration of an ecosystem.’
LUCY CULLITON
View From the Pavilion, Gunningrah 2026 oil on canvas 183x183cm Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
LUCY CULLITON
Yambulla I 2026
oil on canvas 183x183cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
LUCY CULLITON
Yambulla II 2026
oil on canvas 183x183cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
The practice of land regenesis and the slowing down water movement is gaining traction – it makes common sense. Further investigation of regenerative practices has been undertaken by a number of visual artists participating in the Earth Canvas project. The project invited artists to visit and work on regenerative farms in rural New South Wales. The idea was to have artists explore the farming practices that were transforming properties, rebuilding eco-systems and creating a healthier place to manage a productive farm. The artists exhibiting in Holding Ground who participated in the Earth Canvas project include John Wolseley, Janet Laurence, Idris Murphy and Jo Davenport.
Entries from John Wolseley’s journal provide an insight into the artist’s inspiration and process: ‘While here in the Riverina, things seem to move towards something strangely primordial. In Study for what the world would be once bereft, of wet and wildness 9, 2021, it seems to me to have the feel of a winged and feathered pterosaur struggling to emerge out of the earth. Wolseley discovered on Bibbaringa that Gill Sanbrook, over time, has ‘evolved her land from a bare dumb-downed landscape to a rich fecund farm with complex vegetation and a darkly healthy soil, hydrated and swimming with microbial life.’
JOHN WOLSELEY
Study for What would the world be, once bereft, of wet and wildness, Bibbaringa 9 2019-20
charcoal and pastel on drafting film 86 x 120cm
Courtesy the artist & Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
Chains of ponds, moated dams, contour banks and the regenesis of Jillamatong 2018-22 watercolour, graphite, etching and charcoal on paper 56 x 67cm each; 117 x 240cm overall
Courtesy the artist & Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
Time spent by the artist at Jillamatong, a property in the Southern Highlands near Braidwood, revealed a process of innovation and renewal. The healing of the land saw eroded areas restored, water quality improved through developing a chain of ponds along with soil nutrients and extensive ground cover in summer and winter. Wolseley’s polytych Chain of ponds, moated dams, contour banks and the regenesis of Jillamatong, 2018-2022 attests to a practice of holding ground, with a renewed vision and vigour. The words of Charles Massy from his revolutionary book – Call of the Reed Warbler, frame Wolseley’s Jillamatong polytych: ‘Like many before me, I dearly wish I could be transported back in time to go for a long walk through the pastoral ecosystems of Australia prior to white settlement. Just once to walk across grasslands un-grazed by the cloven-hooved animals of white settlers; … to feel the soft ground underneath and access the depths of layered mulch; to witness fully hydrated landscapes and see how the original chains of ponds looked and functioned; to hear the cry of bustard and reed warblers…’
JOHN WOLSELEY
The work of Janet Laurence is multi-faceted - photography, sculpture, video and installation. The artist’s primary concern is to create art that encourages the viewer to immerse themselves in the natural world - to take notice of the complex systems that surround us.
The artist’s work with the Earth Canvas project took place at Yabtree West Mundarlo in the Riverina. It became the genesis for the work Kurrajong 2020-2026.
The artist explains … ‘Being part of the Earth Canvas project was indeed for me a huge privilege. I learnt so much and deeply enjoyed being within and on that land through which the great Murrumbidgee River flows. I witnessed the work of healing and growing the life of the earth and feeling the energy and power of the great trees holding, nurturing and creating life.’
Further to this, Rebecca Gorman, the landholder at Yabtree elaborates on Laurence’s connection with the landscape:
‘As regenerative farmers we are of course focused on elevating the nature that underpins all our food production but when we were lucky enough to have Janet join us to collaborate on the Earth Canvas project I got a new appreciation of the magnificence and specific preciousness of our older tree community - because as we know, Janet loves trees!
Kurrajong 2024-26 (detail)
UV print pigment glaze in mirror and acrylic
80 x 500cm
Courtesy the artist & Cassandra Bird Gallery
JANET LAURENCE
Kurrajong 2024-26 (detail)
UV print pigment glaze in mirror and acrylic
80 x 500cm
Courtesy the artist & Cassandra Bird Gallery
I took her to the tree that I consider one of our mother trees - A Kurrajong (Brachychiton populneus) that is hundreds of years old, growing out of and curving her roots around a large group of granite boulders. The Brachychiton are renowned for being long lived and drought tolerant yet in the 2019 drought she appeared to dry off and I feared she was dying on my watch. To my joy she later sprang back to life, so deep must be her roots and maybe so short is my human life span perspective. Recently after 8 days of temperatures over 40 she shed a bough - perhaps that was the cause - or perhaps she has letting go of ballast to continue her amazing resilience. All visitors pay their respects to this tree, to marvel at her elegant shapes and incredible endurance, to stand under her shade and to contemplate. The Kurrajongs are dotted around the property in their solitary way - you’ll often spot them as the only green survivors if you travel through burnt out country. Janet carried this particular tree through her ethereal, shimmering adorations and those images urge me to honour and celebrate, to revere these trees that are home to, and offer, so much life.’
JANET LAURENCE
During his time with the Earth Canvas project Idris Murphy worked on the Coghlan family property Eurimbla, in Gerogery southern NSW. The artist was attuned to the subtle transformations taking place in the regeneration of the landscape in which he found himself. As is his kin, Murphy’s aim is to capture the spirit of a place rather than succumb to a likeness.
As the artist explains: ‘in the process of making a painting, it may be in acting intuitivelythe will gets put aside. That’s not to say one doesn’t think or question what you are seeing, when your responses accumulate.
Looking at ‘Country’ is also somewhat like that, how you may be affected by your seeing, and a need to question your responses, both in yourself, and from the land that surrounds you, or indeed what you may learn from others.’
acrylic on board 45 x 45cm
IDRIS MURPHY
Pathways 2020
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Shadowed Reflections 2020
on board 141 x 151cm
IDRIS MURPHY
acrylic
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Based in Albury NSW, the artist Jo Davenport was inspired by an extraordinary tale of loss and recovery. Love Song Lost, 2024 is the artist’s rapturous response to an experience that was very close to home.
As the artist explains:
‘The love song of critically endangered regent honeyeaters is the lifeblood of the species, but the population has dwindled so low that young birds are losing the tune to their wild melody. A ray of hope has emerged, however, from a home-schooling program to teach the brilliant black and gold birds to sing their way back from the brink of extinction. Regents must sing the “right” song to attract a mate. But their warbling, chattering call is heard so rarely now that young birds are picking up the wrong music lessons and singing songs of other birds - reducing their chances of mating to boost the population.
Taronga Conservation Society captive breeding program had released over 400 birds back into the wild since 2008.
The Regent Honeyeaters in the capture program are now singing songs closer to what’s considered a wild-type song. It seems like we’re starting to unravel the code. ‘I am hopeful that one day … there will be abundant flocks of Regent Honeyeaters in the Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park as I remember in my childhood.’
Courtesy the artist & Arthouse Gallery
JO DAVENPORT
Love Song Lost 2024 oil on Belgian linen 183 x 168 cm
In September 2019, the S.H. Ervin Gallery mounted a major exhibition, River on the Brink, that was a direct response to the apocalyptic fish kill that took place on the Baaka/Darling at Menindee in 2018/19. As the exhibition curator, I like many people across the nation was shocked and ashamed at the gross water mismanagement that took place across the Murray/ Darling Basin.
The mass destruction was the result of stagnant water becoming a breeding ground for blue green algae. A drastic drop in surface temperature killed the algae sucking all the oxygen from the water.
As a consequence, several million fish died gasping for air. Unfortunately nothing has changed! This is where Julie Paterson and her group of textile artists took to the task of creating the Menindee Memorial Loop.
Dead fish in the Darling River at Menindee. Credit Graeme McCrabb.
Julie Paterson takes up the story:
‘Baaka Ngamaka’Inana - The River, Our Mother was the name of a group show I was involved in at the NSW Embroiderers Guild in 2024. The show was about the Murray-Darling River - the Baaka. That’s where I met artist and Baakantji elder, Uncle Badger Bates , who encouraged me to get out on Country, to experience the Baaka- Darling River in a way that could shape my work. I’m glad I went. First Nations people like Badger cared for the River and kept her healthy for over 60,000 years. There was always enough water for communities and ecosystems then, but now it’s a very different story. And that’s why I needed to make this work.’
BADGER BATES
Nhatji Nguku Minga (Rainbow Serpent Waterhole) 1994
linocut on paper 39.5 x 56.cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
BADGER BATES
Parntuu (codfish) 1993
linocut on paper 34 x 34.5cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
The Menindee Memorial Loop is a response to the multiple mass fish kills along the Baaka (Murray-Darling River) in south-eastern Australia. Showing here are two sections (two smaller loops) of the full Menindee Memorial Loop (2024 - ongoing) - two 14 metre lengths of what will ultimately become a roughly 100 metre long giant loop made of small cotton offcuts, each slowly stitched by hand with 100 small crosses to memorialise the tens of millions of fish that have died in recent years. The choice of cotton is specific and deliberate - the cotton industry is one of the major agribusinesses taking too much water from the river for irrigation and sucking the River dry.
To reflect the scale and impact of these environmental tragedies, we set ourselves the goal of one million crosses when the Loop is fully completed, and did a call out on social media for people to contribute. From across Australia and around the world, kids, aged care residents, and those who have never stitched before responded to the call and sent her their stitched offcuts.
Drawing the fish as small stitched crosses is a creative, generative act, and a beautiful carrier of meaning. As people stitch their cotton scraps with crosses, they are markmaking - to mark the tragedy of the fish kills and marking their grief. Slow-stitching is also a simple act of repair.
I gratefully acknowledge the more than 500 collaborators, and especially the dedicated volunteers on our stitch-squad, helping to attach the individual scraps to the Loop.’
JULIE PATERSON
Menindee Memorial Loop Project 2024-25 (detail) hand-stitched textile 74 x 2400cm, variable Courtesy the artist
Menindee Memorial Loop Project 2024-25
hand-stitched textile 74 x 2400cm, variable
Courtesy the artist
JULIE PATERSON
Environmental artist Lae Oldmeadow lives and works at Blue Knob outside of Nimbin in the Northern Rivers of NSW. His evolution from upholsterer to environmental artist began in the rainforests surrounding Whites Beach near Broken Head, Byron Bay. It was here, as Pedram Khosronejad relates in a recent article in ARTIST PROFILE: ‘… where fallen leaves on the forest floor sparked an epiphany that would reshape his entire creative practice. It was here walking through the rainforest that he noticed the “beautiful patterns on dead leaves that littered the ground” and imagined “how they might look if sewn together.” ‘This moment of recognition allowed him to transform his twenty years of upholstery experience into an entirely new art practice.’
Oldmeadow’s art practice is deeply embedded in his profound apprehension of the natural world. The material he gathers is sourced from trees that have fallen by storms, lightning or wind. Once identified, he leaves these resources to remain on the ground for at least six months, where a series of natural transformations beneath the bark take place. This awareness of natural processes shaping the direction of an artwork has an affinity with the work of John Wolseley who takes delight in the workings of the insect world on his drawings and notations that he often leaves buried in the bush – always curious at the outcome.
Left to right
LAE OLDMEADOW
Bloom, Totem of Contemplation No. 4 2022
palm fibre, sisal twine sewn to canvas 176 x 34 x 10cm
Courtesy the artist
LAE OLDMEADOW
Leaf, Totem of Contemplation No. 11 2025
palm fibre, sisal twine, acrylic 176 x 34 x 10 cm
Courtesy the artist
LAE OLDMEADOW
Worm, Totem of Contemplation No. 7 2022
palm fibre, padded with organic cotton, acrylic paint 176 x 34 x 10cm
Private Collection
LAE OLDMEADOW
Totem 1 2022
palm fibre, sisal twine sewn to canvas 176 x 34 x 10cm
Courtesy the artist
In a recent statement, Oldmeadow outlines his process around nature’s cycles of growth, decay and renewal:
‘My sculptural works are odes to the very fibre of nature. Using discarded organic material, I reveal the miraculous patterns and textures embedded in leaves, roots and bark. In a conscious act of veneration, I suture nature into intricate forms resembling tree trunks and mycelial networks.’
The multi-award winning artist Julie Harris lives and works in Blackheath, NSW. Harris is an artist who has looked closely into the Australian landscape with a probing intelligence. It is here she finds inspiration establishing a mental or psychological platform to launch into abstract space. Landscape has always been integral to her art practice – not in the traditional Western sense, but as a catalyst to inform the work. Harris’ painting is, in effect, a kind of environmental performance piece – a poetic apprehension of the world through paint.
Further to this, the artist explains her deep connection to the inspirational quality of the region and the fragile nature of its beauty as well as its role in mitigating Climate Change.
‘The Garden of Stones National Park is situated just outside Lithgow in NSW. The Gardens of Stone Conservation area, which includes the internationally rare pagoda landscapes, lies between several world heritage National Parks and is only partially protected and not from mining. During a bushwalk in 2011, I was taken to see these extraordinary rock formations which have been weathered to resemble Chinese pagodas. Unfortunately, these fragile rock formations overlie coal mining which has resulted in cliff collapses and the subsidence of some of the upland swamps on sandstone which are found nowhere else in the world. The hanging swamps have a role in climate and regional water resilience, storing carbon and mediating flooding. The state government weakened the Environmental Act in 2017 so there is still, decades later, a fight to prevent further expansion plans from Centennial mining operations and deterioration of the unique, internationally significant sandstone pagoda landscapes. This area is also slated for commercial tourism infrastructure.
Pagodas at Newnes II 2012
acrylic on polyester, four panels 180 x 400cm
Courtesy the artist & Annandale Galleries
JULIE HARRIS
In the painting Pagodas at Newnes II, I used the western portrait format to turn the traditional way of seeing the landscape as horizontal to the eastern vertical. I wanted to conjure up a feeling of extended space, including the panoramic, as well as the detail captured within the flow of paint. These are very physical works being painted both vertically and horizontally; they are taken in and out of the studio according to the time of day and the strength of the sunlight. The colours of the Australian landscape reveal themselves on close observation and can be beautifully vivid. The actual intensity of the landscape was my inspiration for creating these works along with my concerns about its fate as we continue to undervalue and undermine our natural heritage.’
Courtesy the artist & Annandale Galleries
JULIE HARRIS
The Wafers (Pagodas) 2012 ceramic & steel
Master ceramicist Simon Reece lives and works at his studio in Blackheath. His work s closely aligned to the landscape at his doorstep – the Blue Mountains World Heritage site. He is also a friend and collaborator with his nearby neighbour, Julie Harris. In recent times, a study trip to Shigaraki in Japan in 2014 further influenced his skill base and importantly, enhanced his philosophical armature that underpins the form and scale of his work.
Blue Crag 2022
ceramic, porcelain slip and underglaze
colour
31 x 26 x 15cm
Courtesy the artist
Black Crag 2023
ceramic and glaze
14 x 13 x 9.5cm
Courtesy the artist
Orange Crag 2022
ceramic, porcelain slip and underglaze
colour
25 x 25 x 19cm
Courtesy the artist
In a recent statement, the artist explains the inspiration behind his works in Holding Ground:
‘These crags are an evocation of my environment in the Upper Blue Mountains. Escarpments and crags are a result of undersea geological forces in ancient times. The rock formations are echoing times past and have a certain essence that demands our attention. I hope the reflective presence of these pieces can be a catalyst for contemplation around the importance of protecting our environment.
For a while now I’ve been making renditions of rocks and looking at the possibilities of material consciousness.
SIMON REECE
Changes in ethical thinking challenge anthropocentric views of ‘nature’, urging humans to reconsider their relationship with the environment. If rocks, rivers and forests are active agents then...
By integrating material agency and a form of material consciousness into political ecology we can create a framework that will acknowledge that non- human entities can actively shape political and social processes. No longer passive resources.’
MACLEOD
Manly Self Portrait with Mirror 2020 oil on polyester
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
EUAN
The acclaimed New Zealand-born artist Euan Macleod has gained much inspiration from lengthy excursions to regions west of the Blue Mountains - to arid zones in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Yet, there is a site outside of Bathurst that he returned to on many occasions. Napoleon Reef is a battered piece of country shaped by the upheaval of gold mining enterprises in the nineteenth-century. The precarious mineshafts and the tortured regrowth of native vegetation has an austere, mysterious aura that appeals to the artist’s imagination. Over the years, he has painted powerful images of lone figures patrolling the landscape along with scenes of conflagration.
In a recent statement the artist acknowledges, on a personal level, the powerful elements that shape our lives:
‘In 2022 when parts of NSW were suffering from devastating floods, I lost over a 1000 paintings in a factory fire in Newcastle. The fire that destroyed all the paintings I’d ‘saved’ or given to family members was it seems, caused by the huge downpour and faulty wiring. Around the same time another 20 or so of my works were damaged beyond repair in the Brisbane floods.
While both paintings in this exhibition predate these particular events and were inspired, to a degree, by my experiences at Napoleon Reef in NSW, they are a personal response to the awesome power of both fire and rain in our lives which is becoming more and more destructive.’
EUAN MACLEOD
Study for Firestick painting 2019 oil on polyester
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Angus Nivison lives and works on his property at Walcha in the Northern Tablelands of NSW. The skies above and the surrounding landscape are a major source of inspiration. Nivison’s abstract paintings are informed by deep-felt emotional response to place. As the artist recently pointed out:
‘My work mostly deals with landscape, memory and the human condition the paintings are really a personal dialogue.
I offer the image and a title, it is up to the viewer to complete the conversation.’ In his magisterial painting The Language of Paintings is Rain , 2005, the artist attests to the fact that these places are sacred and are an integral component in the fragile web of life – ‘the painting is indeed a visual poem to the fragile web of life that is our environment, the very reason that life exists. The formation, in mountains, of vapor to droplets, to rain, to the murmur of streams, to rivers, to the rolling of the sea, all this is the language of mountains! Water is life; the areas of forested mountains are ever shrinking. They are the powerhouse that sustains humanity; they are indeed sacred, what needs to be held close. That message is so important and so beautiful. We must hold onto what is left. We must keep Holding Ground.’
ANGUS NIVISON
Weep Dangar Gorge 2021
acrylic, gesso, pigment, graphite and carbon on polyester 220 x 100cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art Sydney
ANGUS NIVISON
The Language of Mountains is Rain 2005
acrylic, charcoal & gesso on canvas 200 x 540cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art Sydney
The renowned landscape painter John R Walker lives and works in Braidwood NSW. With the artist’s close association to the place, his paintings have come to define the landscape of the region. Like much of NSW, the impact of Climate Change has exacerbated prolonged droughts along with intense bushfires. Walker’s paintings are a kind of reckoning with the elemental forces that shape the land.
The artist’s awareness has its roots in his knowledge of the colonial past that saw much of the landscape decimated in the framework of euro-centric land management which we now know has failed. Only now are we beginning to see the signs of re-generation aligned with an awareness and respect for ancient Indigenous land management.
An important aspect of the artist’s process is the fact that he puts his feet on the ground and takes his imagination for a walk. The paintings inspired by this activity bring the viewer into close proximity with the artist’s experience.
Dry Ridge Walking I 2019
archival oil on polyester 73.5 x 107 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art Sydney
JOHN R WALKER
JOHN R WALKER
The Badja 2014
archival oil on polyester canvas 171 x 214 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art Sydney
In a recent statement, Walker surveyed the contentious history of the region and the positive signs of regenesis:
‘The first settlers arrived in the Braidwood region about 1820. Between 1820 and 1828, the number of sheep rose from a few thousand to more than 100,000. In less than 20 years, the old country was stripped bare. While disease, hunger and murder greatly reduced the numbers of the First Nations people, they nonetheless adapted and continued on.
By the 1950s, years of over-grazing, erosion and economic depression had reduced too much of the country to enormous erosion trenches where there had once been lush chains of ponds, and beautiful herb fields had become scoured, weedy paddocks.
The loss of First Nations management of the forest resulted in the increasing build-up of weeds creating the risk of catastrophic fires. Slowly, and painfully at times, things have improved; natural sequence and related farming techniques have restored erosion gullies back into chains of ponds, paddocks of scoured weedy ground are now a rare sight, and a growing respect for Indigenous cultural management of forests is starting to improve how we manage forests. With care, patience and above all love things can change for the better.’
JOHN R WALKER
River Red II 2019
archival oil on polyester 168 x 106.5 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art Sydney
The artist Sophie Cape lives and works at Gerringong in south-east NSW. As the latest recipient of the prestigious Hadley’s Art Prize for landscape painting, the artist has been reassured and energised in her demanding practice. Working in the landscape, the artist often exposes herself and her canvas directly to the elements at play – fire, flood, storms, drought, and decay. Apart from canvas, Cape’s materials are not sourced from the art supply shop. As pundit’s have pointed out:
‘Using unconventional, locally found materials. Cape engages her body’s physicality and the chaos of the Elements in order to render an authentic, instinctual act of expression. Revelling in the drama and uncontrollability of Nature’s power. Depicting at once, the internal and external landscape. Cape seeks out the contrast of survival and decay, beauty and horror. Creating psychological portraits of humanity, and our unique landscape. Offering an encounter with the human condition in all of its power and poetry.’
Encountering what cannot be foreseen 2015 ink, acrylic, charcoal, blood and soil on canvas 200 x 300cm Private Collection
SOPHIE CAPE
Newhaven soil, bushfire charcoal and ink on canvas 103 x 153cm
SOPHIE CAPE Angels of Fire 2025
Courtesy the artist & Mitchell Fine Art
Machines of flying fire (Steelworks) 2024
steel dust, silver, copper and charcoal on canvas 170 x 220cm
Courtesy the artist
SOPHIE CAPE
Grandmother Tree, a 300 year old Scribbly Gum (Eucalyptus Racemosa) 2024
Kodak Premium Inkjet Lustre Courtesy the artist
The Save Wallum community blockade lasted nine months—the first environmental blockade in Australia on the edge of suburbia. Two tree-sits were established as acts of Non-Violent Direct Action, with over 20 human ‘possums’ rotating through the treetops to protect the land. Hundreds gathered twice a week to walk Country, swap tree-sitters, and bring food, water, and solidarity.
MAC MADERSKI
In the long history of the courageous struggle to protect the last vestiges of wilderness in the Northern Rivers of NSW, the work of talented photographers has been at the forefront of raising public awareness. Once local communities are aware of what’s at stake – the destruction of habitat, the loss of fragile eco-systems and waterways, there begins a groundswell of organised action to fight for the right of wild places to exist, free from predatory developers.
The Save Wallum action group at Brunswick Heads on Bundjalung country has been brilliantly supported by the work of many gifted photographers. In Holding Ground, the works of two such photographers, Mac Maderski and Mark Seiffert are on display. The significance of the site and the fight for its survival is laid out in the following statement:
Since September 2023, the Brunswick Heads community in Northern NSW, on Bundjalung Country, has been at the heart of a powerful grassroots movement to protect the endangered Wallum ecosystem from destruction by a proposed housing development.
With deep local knowledge and fierce commitment, residents mobilised in response to the developers plan to clear 13ha of incredibly biodiverse, High Ecological Value coastal heathland, home to threatened species including the Wallum Sedge Frog, Koala, Glossy Black-Cockatoo, Mitchell Rainforest Snail and the Long-nosed Potoroo.
The campaign has united thousands of supporters through social media, petitions, public meetings, and peaceful protests. Awareness-raising events such as community fundraisers, film screenings, vigils, market stalls, and creative actions have helped galvanise both local, national and international attention. Market stalls and music events became regular features, with artists, scientists, environmental lawyers, and First Nations leaders sharing voices and expertise to the cause. Media coverage grew, with stories featured on ABC, News Corp, 7 News and major radio stations, highlighting the ecological, legal, and cultural significance of the land.
MAC MADERSKI
Scratch The Surface 2023
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A gentle track through Banksia and grass trees. Beneath it lies coffee rock and ancient sand layers, soil formations that hold cultural and geological value. These paths are memory lines, shaped by movement, fire, and rain, not bulldozers.
MAC MADERSKI
Pretty Little Lies 2025
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Everitts Creek is the tannin-stained home to the endangered Oxleyan Pygmy Perch. It acts as a life-source for the birds, frogs and mammals of Wallum. The creek risks degradation from altered hydrology and sediment runoff.
MAC MADERSKI
Fire Phoenix 2023
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This juvenile South-Eastern Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami lathami) arrived at Wallum with a flock post-fire, 2023, singed but surviving. This iconic bird has become the logo, and symbol of Save Wallum. Listed as Vulnerable under the EPBC Act, the South-eastern Glossy Black Cockatoos are in serious trouble.
MARK SEIFFERT
It’s all connected baby 2024
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Soaring on the Wallum winds the Eastern Osprey (Pandion cristatus) hunting fish. A magnificent bird with a wingspan up to 1.7m! Its habitat is compromised if the Wallum wetlands are built upon.
MAC MADERSKI
Caged Without Consent 2025
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Once common across the proposed development site, the Swamp Wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) of Wallum have been excluded from their habitat by developer fencing and the presence of patrolling security guard dogs. Their disappearance is a symptom of an ecosystem under siege.
MARK SEIFFERT
Bayside Koala 2025
Fuji Crystal Archive Lustre
Courtesy the artist
Safe in his home for now, a male koala finds refuge and sustenance in the Eucalyptus robusta feed trees found in Wallum, a crucial koala corridor connecting the Brunswick Heads nature reserve to the Tyagarah nature reserve and Simpsons Creek (Durangbil).
MARK SEIFFERT
Paddock No. 10 2024
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Despite being razed by developers, the Wallum heathland reasserts itself, this image taken 10 months after the last time the site was illegally slashed. White and pink health and boronias abound, banksias sneaking above the blaze of colour - this not a cow paddock!
In February 2024, a 24/7 community-led vigil was established on site to maintain a peaceful presence and to protect the land from clearing. When machinery arrived, local people took non-violent direct action to peacefully prevent destruction.
Community members stayed, camping, cooking meals, standing together and keeping a sacred fire burning continuously for 9 months.
Save Wallum Inc. V Clarence Property Corp is currently awaiting judgment in the Federal Court, a case that challenges the lawfulness of the proposed ‘Wallum’ development at Brunswick Heads.
Save Wallum Inc. has argued that the developer is relying on outdated environmental protections and fails to meet the requirements of contemporary ecological assessment. After months of legal proceedings and the presentation of significant expert evidence, the case has reached its final stage, with a decision expected from the Federal Court in March 2026.
The campaign has not only brought ecological injustice to light but has also become a symbol of community. From school students to elders, surfers to scientists, the Wallum community has demonstrated what can happen when ordinary people stand up for Country. This is not just a local issue, it’s a test case for how we value biodiversity, cultural heritage, and future generations in the face of relentless development.
The fight to protect Wallum continues, grounded in care, science, and solidarity.
Everitts Creek - The life-source for Wallum
Photographed Gavin Wilson
Desperate Eyes in Uncertain Times 2024 Kodak Premium Inkjet Lustre Courtesy the artist
This young Australian Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles cristatus) peeps out from a vital tree hollow, its home. It reminds us of the unseen lives at stake in every patch of “undeveloped” land.
The scope and quality of the works selected from regional New South Wales for exhibition in Holding Ground will compel audiences to look more closely into the complex makeup of the places they inhabit: places that sustain the fragile web of life in a time of unprecedented climate chaos coupled with on-going unsustainable development.
Holding Ground is a timely recognition of what matters and what needs to be held close.
Gavin Wilson March 2026
MAC MADERSKI
LIST OF WORKS
BADGER BATES
(b.1947 lives & works in Wilcannia and Broken Hill)
Barka (Darling River) 1993
linocut on paper 35 x 45.5cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
Nhatji Yarliana (copulating rainbow serpents) 1993
linocut on paper 38 x 62.5cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
Parntuu (codfish) 1993
linocut on paper 34 x 34.5cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
Puumala (turtle) 1993
linocut on paper 33 x 31cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
Nhatji Nguku Minga (Rainbow Serpent Waterhole) 1994
linocut on paper 39.5 x 56.cm
Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection
SOPHIE CAPE
(b.1975 lives & works in Gerringong & Sydney)
Encountering what cannot be foreseen 2015
ink, acrylic, charcoal, blood and soil on canvas 200 x 300cm
Private Collection
Angels of Fire 2025
Newhaven soil, bushfire charcoal and ink on canvas 103 x 153cm
Courtesy the artist & Mitchell Fine Art
Leviathan 2025
bushfire charcoal, soil, carborundum, pigment and oil on canvas 102.5 x 152.5cm
Courtesy the artist & Mitchell Fine Art
Machines of flying fire (Steelworks) 2024
steel dust, silver, copper and charcoal on canvas 170 x 220cm
Courtesy the artist
LUCY CULLITON
(b.1966 lives & works in Bibbenluke)
Gunningrah 2025 oil on canvas 199 x 122cm
Private Collection
View From the Pavilion, Gunningrah 2026
oil on canvas 183x183cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Yambulla I 2026 oil on canvas 183x183cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Yambulla II 2026 oil on canvas 183x183cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
JO DAVENPORT
(b.1957 lives & works in Albury)
Love Song Lost 2024 oil on Belgian linen 183 x 168 cm
Courtesy the artist & Arthouse Gallery
JULIE HARRIS
(b.1953 lives & works in Blackheath)
Pagodas at Newnes II 2012 acrylic on polyester, four panels 180 x 400cm
Courtesy the artist & Annandale Galleries
The Wafers (Pagodas) 2012 ceramic & steel
Courtesy the artist & Annandale Galleries
JANET LAURENCE
(b.1947 lives & works in Sydney & Berry)
Theatre of Trees (detail) 2019
dye sublimation on silk foil, variable size
Courtesy the artist & Cassandra Bird Gallery
Kurrajong 2024-26
UV print pigment glaze in mirror and acrylic 80 x 500cm
Courtesy the artist & Cassandra Bird Gallery
EUAN MACLEOD
(b.1956 lives & works in Sydney)
Manly Self Portrait with Mirror 2020 oil on polyester
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Study for Firestick painting 2019 oil on polyester
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
MAC MADERSKI
(b.1971 lives & works in Ocean Shores)
Grandmother Tree, a 300 year old Scribbly Gum (Eucalyptus Racemosa) 2024
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Courtesy the artist
Paddock No. 10 2024
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Courtesy the artist
Desperate Eyes in Uncertain Times 2024
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Courtesy the artist
Pretty Little Lies 2025
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Courtesy the artist
Caged Without Consent 2025
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Courtesy the artist
Rare Grey Goshawk 2024
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Courtesy the artist
Fire Phoenix 2023
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Courtesy the artist
Scratch The Surface 2023
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Courtesy the artist
IDRIS MURPHY
(b.1949 lives & works in Sydney)
Pathways 2020
acrylic on board 45 x 45cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Shadowed Reflections 2020
acrylic on aluminium 141 x 151cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
Floating Reflections 2023
acrylic & collage on aluminium 115 x 115cm
Courtesy the artist & King Street Gallery on William
ANGUS NIVISON
(b. 1953 lives and works in Walcha)
Weep Dangar Gorge 2021
acrylic, gesso, pigment, graphite and carbon on polyester 220 x 100cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
The Language of Mountains is Rain 2005
acrylic, charcoal & gesso on canvas 200 x 540cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
LAE OLDMEADOW
(b. 1956 lives & works in Blue Knob)
Leaf, Totem of Contemplation No. 11 2025
palm fibre, sisal twine, acrylic 176 x 34 x 10 cm
Courtesy the artist
Worm, Totem of Contemplation No. 7 2022
palm fibre, padded with organic cotton, acrylic paint 176 x 34 x 10 cm
Private Collection
Bloom, Totem of Contemplation No. 4 2022
palm fibre, sisal twine sewn to canvas 176 x 34 x 10 cm
Courtesy the artist
Totem I 2020
hoop pine bark sewn to canvas 184 x 35 x 18 cm
Courtesy the artist
JULIE PATERSON
(b.1963 lives & works in Blackheath)
Menindee Memorial Loop Project 202425
hand-stitched textile 74 x 2400cm, variable
Courtesy the artist
SIMON REECE
(b. 1960 lives & works in Blackheath)
Blue Crag 2022
ceramic, porcelain slip and underglaze colour 31 x 26 x 15cm
Courtesy the artist
Black Crag 2023
ceramic and glaze 14 x 13 x 9.5cm
Courtesy the artist
Orange Crag 2022
ceramic, porcelain slip and underglaze colour 25 x 25 x 19cm
Courtesy the artist
MARK SEIFFERT
(b.1961 lives & works in Brunswick Heads)
Bayside Koala 2025
Fuji Crystal Archive Lustre
Courtesy the artist
It’s all connected baby 2023
Fuji Crystal Archive Lustre
Courtesy the artist
IMANTS TILLERS
(b.1950 lives & works in Cooma)
Prayer for Rain 2020
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 54 canvas boards 227 x 212.5cm
Courtesy the artist & Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
Critical Forests 11 2024
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 32 canvas boards 203.2 x 142.2cm
Courtesy the artist & Milani Gallery
Critical Forests 12 2024
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 32 canvas boards 203.2 x 142.2cm
Courtesy the artist & Milani Gallery
Critical Forests 13 2024
synthetic polymer paint, gouache on 32 canvas boards 203.2 x 142.2cm
Courtesy the artist & Milani Gallery
JOHN R. WALKER
(b.1957 lives & works in Braidwood)
The Badja 2014
archival oil on polyester canvas 171 x 214 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
Dry Ridge Walking I 2019
archival oil on polyester 73.5 x 107 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
River Red II 2019
archival oil on polyester 168 x 106.5 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
Collector Walking 2025 oil and synthetic polymer on polyester 91 x 61 cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
The Source of the Lachlan 2025 oil and synthetic polymer on polyester 91 x 61cm
Courtesy the artist & Utopia Art
Sydney
JOHN WOLSELEY
(b.1938 lives & works in Whipstick Forest)
Chains of ponds, moated dams, contour banks and the regenesis of Jillamatong 2018-22
watercolour, graphite, etching and charcoal on paper 56 x 67cm each; 117 x 240cm overall
Courtesy the artist & Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
Study for What would the world be, once bereft, of wet and wildness, Bibbaringa 9 2019-20
charcoal and pastel on drafting film
Courtesy the artist & Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery
Gavin Wilson is a leading independent curator, award-winning landscape architect and author. His wide-ranging exhibitions focus on the interconnected themes of landscape and culture in the Australian experience. Since 1993, he has conceived, researched and curated many significant exhibitions for public galleries in metropolitan and regional areas. They include: The Artists of Hill End (1995) AGNSW and tour; Escape Artists: modernists in the tropics (1998) Cairns Regional Gallery and tour; David Moore - Sydney Harbour 50 years of photography (1999) State Library of Hawaii, Australian Embassy, Washington; Rivers + Rocks: Arthur Boyd and Brett Whiteley (2001) Bundanoon Trust and tour; The Big River Show: Murrumbidgee Riverine, (2002) Wagga Wagga Regional Art Gallery; Beneath the Monsoon: visions north of Capricorn (2003) Artspace Mackay and tour; Encounters with country: landscapes of Ray Crooke (2005) Cairns Regional Gallery and tour; Fireworks: tracing the incendiary in Australian art (2006) Artspace Mackay and tour; Cuisine & Country: a gastronomic venture in Australian art (2007) Orange Regional Gallery and tour; Harbourlife: Sydney Harbour from the 1940s (2008) Manly Art Gallery & Museum and tour; Love on Mount Pleasant: Garry Shead toasts Maurice O’Shea (2009) Maitland Regional Art Gallery and tour; Surface Tension: the art of Euan Macleod (2010) Tweed River Art Gallery and tour; Elemental Reckoning: the art of Tim Storrier (2011) S.H. Ervin Gallery; Picturing the Great Divide: visions from Australia’s Blue Mountains (2013) Blue Mountains Cultural Centre; Everyone Is Here: Jason Benjamin paintings & graphics (2013:14) NSW tour; Refiguring Dystopia: the art of Richard Goodwin (2014) Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and tour: Country & Western: landscape re-imagined (2015) Perc Tucker Regional Gallery and tour; Self Portraits on Paper (2016) Yellow House Gallery, Sydney; Interiors (2018) Orange Regional Gallery; River on the Brink: inside the Murray-Darling Basin (2019) S.H. Ervin Gallery; Tree of Life: a testament to endurance (2021) S.H. Ervin Gallery; In Suburbia: recent detours (2025) S. H. Ervin Gallery; Holding Ground: what matters and what needs to be held close (2026) S. H. Ervin Gallery. www.gavinwilson.com.au
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The S.H. Ervin Gallery would like to acknowledge the assistance of the following people and organisations in the presentation of the exhibition:
We are indebted to the many lenders to the exhibition and to all the exhibiting artists and their galleries including Broken Hill City Art Gallery Collection, Mitchell Fine Art, King Street Gallery on William, Arthouse Gallery, Annandale Galleries, Cassandra Bird Gallery, Utopia Art Sydney, Milani Gallery, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, and Holly Galbraith from the Save Wallum action group.
Sincere thanks go to the exhibiting artists who have embraced the exhibition and have been so supportive in providing and sourcing the works for the exhibition. We thank them for their dedication and commitment to regional New South Wales in a time of unprecedented climate chaos coupled with ongoing unsustainable development.
Finally our thanks to the exhibition curator Gavin Wilson for developing his original concept and working with the artists to select the work and create an exhibition that speaks of this time. He has created another thought provoking exhibition for the S.H. Ervin Gallery.
Project Team
Curatorial: Gavin Wilson and Maggy Todd
S.H. Ervin Gallery
Director: Jane Watters
Assistant Curators: Katie Yuill, Christina Lau
Catalogue Designer: Christina Lau
Installation: Chas Glover, Thomas Kuss, Stuart Watters
This catalogue is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced without prior permission of the publisher.
E-Published to accompany the exhibition: Holding Ground 7 March - 3 May 2026. Opened by Nell Schofield, Environmental Activist and Broadcaster on Saturday 7 March 2026.
ISBN: 978-0-909723-16-3
Published by the National Trust of Australia (NSW) 2026
Watson Road, Observatory Hill, The Rocks, Sydney NSW 2000
© National Trust of Australia (NSW) S.H. Ervin Gallery
artworks © the artists and the artist’s estates or as noted text © Gavin Wilson
