Comrade Artists: be happy in your work. Fowlers Gap, New South Wales 2007 The Land an art site, Mountainair, New Mexico 2010 Lethbridge, Alberta 2011
landscape | d o c u m e n tat i o n by don gill
CO M R A DES walking the land
In 2007, while documenting the landscape at the University of New South Wales’ Arid Zone Research Station in Fowlers Gap, I realised that the earth I was walking on had as much presence as the trees and hills surrounding me. Clusters of rocks and animal skeletons started to dominate the images I was making; rocks and skeletons became a part of the long walks and either enhanced or hindered my progress. The phrase, ‘comrade artists be happy in your work’, from Emir Kusturica’s film Underground was the key that brought my arid region projects into focus. I started to have the text inscribed on rocks of varying sizes, adding them to the landscapes through which I was walking and working.
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Mapping the landscape underpins much of my work. The country walker is contrasted with the urban walker through photography, video and GPS technology. n
p h o to gr aphy ar id lan d de tr itu s walkin g