SHADOW TREE
Materials:
Tyvek, rope, bamboo, granite
Concept:
Val Plumwood, an Australian environmental philosopher,explained that ‘shadow places’ are overlooked regions of our environment hidden in plain sight. To Flanagan, the remnants of the Brigalow Belt is a shadow place that echoes a sense of fragility, teetering between existence and absence.
In this work shadows of the Pilliga State Forest were captured in the quiet of winter, July 2025, just 18 months after the Duck Creek fire burnt through over 112,000 hectares of bushland.
When commercial mapping through large-scale vegetation surveys takes place the focus is on biological resources with economic value. But what about the silence we cannot chart? The croaking frogs, the calling birds, the life that once thrived beneath the canopy?
We do not map the invisible; migration paths traced only in memory; seeds carried unseen by the wind; shadows cast beneath absent trees, or animals and people who have vanished. There are no maps for ghosts – those spectral presences that linger at the edge of our vision, whispering stories of loss and longing.
Exhibitions:
• Landrelations, Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, Booragul NSW Australia 1 Aug – 30 Oct 2025
Thanks:
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Council, its arts funding and advisory body.