Image: Tim Georgeson, Victor, 2021. Colour inks on paper. Courtesy: the artist and Museum of Art and Culture Lake Macquarie.

An exhibition responding to the Australian bushfires of 2019/2020 and the significance of First Nations knowledge and fire practices. Central to the exhibition is Tim Georgeson’s moving image work Requiem for a forest, which captures the environmental impact of fires on the country of the Yuin Nation.

Extending on this powerful immersive experience and soundscape are additional moving image and photographic works, including Requiem and Renaissance. Georgeson’s images encapsulate the progression of the bushfires, from the lightning strikes that ignited the initial blazes to the first new growth on the scorched trees.

Seeking alternative perspectives the artist travelled to Kakadu in the Northern Territory to document the millennium-old knowledge of ‘cool burning’ practices, which revitalise and restore ecological balance. Georgeson has also created portraits of respected members from the Awabakal and Biriban communities asserting their connection to Country as custodians and keepers of cultural fire practices in the area of Lake Macquarie.

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