Dave’s country

In 2021, Dave mangenner Gough and Darryl Rogers found themselves in a ti-tree forest in northern Lutruwita, capturing footage for a commissioned artwork at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. Our collaboration, which included Vicki West, aimed to weave a de-colonial narrative within a space imbued with colonial history. As we stood in the morning light, our conversation shifted to quantum physics. We explored how, in quantum terms, this very forest exists as a manifestation of consciousness, challenging the notion of fixed reality and illustrating how past, present, and future intertwine. In this moment, I expressed my concerns about the artwork we were working on. Dave reassured me that the ancestors were here with us—a statement that would later resonate deeply as our work found its voice. On that same morning, Dave discovered three mangenner (Yellow Tailed Cockatoo) feathers — his totem — on his way to our shoot. He marked his Country with these feathers and an ochre handprint on a nearby tree, both becoming essential elements of our final artwork now gracing the gallery’s staircase. This painting is born from that powerful moment. The background captures the forest in an abstract expressionist style, reflecting the fluid interplay of trees, grass, and light while resonating with quantum concepts like wave – particle duality and the role of the observer in shaping reality. In the foreground, three trees stand firmly, anchored by the three feathers. Vibrant, fluorescent colours expand life into the bark, enhancing its solid presence. The largest tree bears Dave’s actual ochred handprint, symbolising a timeless connection that transcends conventional understandings of time, embodying the interconnectedness of Country, spirit, and the quantum realm. This painting represents a collaboration of spirit, mind, and matter— Dave’s Country, the beginnings of a profound friendship, and a pivotal moment that exists simultaneously in this place and beyond the confines of time.