Nicola Dickson – Only a Remnant

May 13, 2023 to Aug 20, 2023

Image: Nicola Dickson, Precious Remnant- Wiradjuri Boundary Tree Wagga Wagga Beach, oil on panel in antique frame on digitally printed wallpaper, 2023.

About

Only a Remnant explores biodiversity loss in the Riverina, centering upon the Box Gum Grassy Woodlands that once covered much of south eastern Australia and were the homelands of Indigenous Peoples including Wiradjuri.

Past and present local stories, both Indigenous and settler, of human interaction with the natural environment inform the artist’s investigations. Using her skills in botanical illustration and painting, artist Nicola Dickson offers a postcolonial reading of the catastrophic consequences for the many plants, birds and animals dependant on Woodland habitats.

The usual conventions of botanical illustration are modified by re-ascribing the plants their Wiradjuri name. These works point to the different knowledge systems formed in the past comparing those based on Western sciences with ancient Indigenous systems. Their plight is alluded to in a series of paintings of tiny Woodland birds perched on sprigs of native vegetation growing in a largely cleared landscape.

The production of artworks for this exhibition was supported by the Capital Arts Patrons Organisation (CAPO).