Prescience
Dianne Fogwell
born Australia, 1958
Prescience 2021-2022
Linocut, woodcut, burn drawings, pigmented ink on Hanji paper; unique state
Reuben Lewis (composer)
born Australia, 1989
Prescience 2022
trumpet, electronics, field recordings recorded and produced by Reuben Lewis
Prescience is a panoramic view of the beauty of the Australian landscape - its cycles of regeneration that follow natural disasters such as fire, and its precarity due to climate change. Across fifty-six exquisitely detailed hand-printed labels. Fogwell has created for the viewer an immersive experience of the bush to emphasise our interconnectedness with the natural world and humanity's central role in its exploitation and destruction.
The word 'prescience' - and the underlying tenor of Fogwell's work- suggests an awareness and acknowledgement of imminenet threat. Fogwell draws on a quote by Italian artist, engineer, scientist and architect Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) who stated: 'in nature there is no effect without a cause ... Science is he observation of things possible, whether present or past; prescience is the knowledge of things which may come to pass.'
In our contemporary context - the age of the Anthropocence - Fogwell's installation highlights the impacts of climate change on flora and faunca, and subtly critiques humankind's limited commitments to address the climate crists. A rich narrative unfurls across the panels: the imagery traverses diverse geographies and ecologies, distinctly conditioned by natural occurrences such as dust storms, fire, and regrowth.
Fogwell's unique-state colour linocut and woodcut is extraordinary for its technical brilliance and conceptual richness. The expansive, luminous landscape is printed in multiple layers from many blocks impressed on fine Hanji paper (handmade in Korea from the inner bark of the Mulberry tree): the scenery composed from the artist's extensive stock of lino and wood blocks and images. The work floats suspended off the wall: in the artist's hands, the diaphanous, seemingly fragile paper is a metaphor for the precarity of the natural world, whilst simultaneously a call to protect and care for our vulnerable flora and fauna.
As Fogwell recently stated: 'There is a great collectibe sadness in losing the idea of the Australian bush as 'eternal' or 'invincible', but there is always hope: for with our considered help there can be regeneration of both place and spirit.
The installation is accompanied by a music composition by Reuben Lewis taking inspiration from the sounds and wonderful cacophonies of the natural world -an aural complementto an immersive visual landscape.