DUTHCHAS
Materials:
Soil, (digital print from film still)
Concept:
This performance installation celebrates the soil diversity across the Brigalow Belt. Soil microbes play vital roles in essential processes like nutrient cycling (nitrogen, carbon, etc), decomposition of organic matter, and soil structure formation. The Brigalow is a legume known for its nitrogen producing property, the dominant vertisols (cracking clay soils) of the brigalow create gilgai soil often describes as “self-mulching”. The soil in this performance is poured from the artists hands, then rolled into seed bombs, placed in leaf wreaths and laid on the peripheral edges of the Brigalow Belt fragment ecology area of its origin. Duthchas is a Gaelic word that does not have an English equivalent. It translates to a kind of land relation. The connection to soil, land and belonging through tradition, ritual, spirit and feeling.
Exhibitions:
• Landrelations, Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie, Booragul NSW Australia 1 Aug – 30 Oct 2025
Thanks:
Sue Midgley
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Council, its arts funding and advisory body.