Reinvention

I have long embraced the philosophy of kintsugi, that beauty lies in imperfection. It has helped me better accept my own obvious scars and inspired my practice of reinterpreting fragility, destruction, interruption and repair. Bushfire is one of nature’s greatest ‘re-sets’, and Tasmania’s lush landscape has not been exempt from the challenge of change it inflicts, rejuvenation of country it inspires and reinvention of community it compels. In this piece, the recent Dolphin Sands fires and destruction at Coles bay are interpreted with symbolism and the sentiment of kintsugi. It proposes that the delicately poised, fire ravaged and clearly scared landscape, having succumb to a monochromatic, chaotic version of its former self with immediate, obvious attempts at repair need not be viewed through a lens of lament but rather one focused on the undeniably captivating, interesting and integrally still beautiful image that remains. From the ashes of Dolphin Sands and Coles Bay a reinvention will transpire. A reinvention of both the landscape and the people so reliant upon it and connected to it. A slow, confronting undertaking, courageously seeking to eclipse our previous memories of its lush, largely unblemished and familiar former self.