Landscape Unions include the Desert, Mountain and River Unions. Desert Union was exhibited as part of 'Worlds End' at The Guesthouse, Cork 2011 consisting of a multimedia installation using photography, video, text, lights and smoke. Landscape Unions explores the positioning of power in relation to nature and how this is influenced by historical colonial perspectives reflected in painting.


Rights for Nature? Here nature attempts to fight back and acquire agency by forming unions. This line of thinking came about through a residency at The Broken Hill Art Exchange, NSW, Australia 2011, my experience of politics and running as a candidate for the Green Party 2007 and the work of Austrian/Australian 19th-century artist Eugen von Guérard.

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Statement

 

This work explores the positioning of power in relation to nature and how this has been influenced by historical colonial perspectives reflected in painting. Associations and contexts about nature are complicated and mixed up to explore nature as manifestations of the romantic tradition and how this has created a distancing through notions about 'view'.


By using an existing strategy of 'the union' to create a paradoxical situation to expose the possibility of a perceptual shift about our relationship with nature the animals, plants, rocks and birds are symbolic representatives for an attempted individualization and actualization of the desert, its attempts to assert its position or point of view through a ‘re-positioning’ process using 'the union' as a vehicle for realising this.


The context is the historical idea of landscape as dominated by the image of a single human figure surveying 'his' domain, separated from 'his' surroundings, as seen in the work of 19th-century German artist Caspar David Fredric. This reflects an idea of nature as an object to be surveyed, used and dominated.


In this work this idea is subverted, nature exerts its right for identification as an entity in its own right with a view of itself with rights, a voice and an awareness of its right to exist.


Historically positioned within the romantic landscape tradition, this work spans the historic bridge between a 'Casparesc' image of the single human figure surveying ‘his’ domain, separated from nature and the idea of an immersive relationship with nature, one where nature takes up the mantel and has a voice and consciousness of its own.


This work is designed to provide a shift in the way we relate to and see nature, be it mountains, desert, woodland, bog, marsh etc. to provide a vehicle for expressing that shift, it offers an idealistic redress from a humancentric situation towards the non-human, while using a human political relationship mechanism 'the union' as the means to do this.


Creating a series of ‘Landscape Unions’ - Desert Union, Mountain Union, Bog Union, United Forests and Woodlands etc. the mechanisms of politics are subverted into a symbolic gesture for the transition of power and ownership back to nature.


This line of thinking came about during a residency in the outback mining town of Broken Hill NSW Australia, through The Broken Hill Art Exchange in May 2011, my experience of politics and running as a candidate for the Green Party 2007 and through the work of Austrian/Australian 19th-century artist Eugen von Guérard, who I came across in the Regional Art Museum of Ballarat Victoria in 2010.


Eugen von  Guérard was an important part of the artistic establishment in Australia. He went to Australia to mine gold and ended up playing an important role in the development of the Australian art world, as director of the art school and the art museum in Melbourne for more than 30 years, he was also an important painter in his own right, though his work is little known outside Australia.


Evidence of colonial interpretations of the desert landscape can be seen in his work, and through the introduction of viewing points in the desert, for example, a vast open landscape, which is the same in every direction for 100s of kilometres. This exposes a particular colonial interpretation and positioning of the desert landscape, in which the viewer is the central focal point, separated and distanced from nature. This can also be seen in the way the desert has been categorized and mediated for our engagement and entertainment. Documentation of these strategies exposes the positioning of the desert and how it is understood.


Sarah Iremonger 2012

Landscape Unions 2011-13
Desert Union / cut-out sheet
2012
Cut-out photographs, pen on paper
32 x 44 cm

Part of an interactive campaign to raise awareness of the issues important to the Desert Union, build your own desert landscape.

Landscape Unions / Desert Union
2013
Photograph & text printed on archival paper
21 x 21 cm

A Landscape Union medallion created for the Desert Union. Showing images of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Landscape Unions / Desert Union
2013
Photograph & text printed on archival paper
21 x 21 cm

A Landscape Union medallion created for the Desert Union. Showing images of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / cut-out habitat sign
2012
Cut-out photograph, pen on paper
30 x 21 cm

Part of an interactive campaign to raise awareness of the issues important to the Desert Union, build your own desert landscape.

Desert Union / cut-out water tank
2012
Cut-out photograph, pen on paper
30 x 21 cm

Part of an interactive campaign to raise awareness of the issues important to the Desert Union, build your own desert landscape.

Desert Union / cut-out desert mound
2012
Cut-out photograph, pen on paper
21 x 30 cm

Part of an interactive campaign to raise awareness of the issues important to the Desert Union, build your own desert landscape.

Desert Union / greeting cards
2012
Photographs, images, text, card, envelopes, cellophane bags
Cards 15 x 21 cm (ea)

Part of the Desert Union advertising and fundraising campaign, the greeting cards, individual and in box-sets, show photographs, drawings, cut-outs and medallions.

Desert Union / greeting cards / detail
2012
Photographs, images, text, card, envelopes, cellophane bags
Cards 15 x 21 cm (ea)

Part of the Desert Union advertising and fundraising campaign, the greeting cards, individual and in box-sets, show photographs, drawings, cut-outs and medallions.

Desert Union / greeting cards
2012
Photographs, images, text, card, envelopes, cellophane bags
Cards 15 x 21 cm (ea)

Part of the Desert Union advertising and fundraising campaign, the greeting cards, individual and in box-sets, show photographs, drawings, cut-outs and medallions.

Desert Union / greeting cards box-set
2012
Photographs, images, text, card, envelopes, cellophane bags
Cards 15 x 21 cm (ea) set of ten

Part of the Desert Union advertising and fundraising campaign, the greeting cards, individual and in box-sets, show photographs, drawings, cut-outs and medallions.

Desert Union / greeting cards box-set
2012
Photographs, images, text, card, envelopes, cellophane bags
Cards 15 x 21 cm (ea) set of ten

Part of the Desert Union advertising and fundraising campaign, the greeting cards, individual and in box-sets, show photographs, drawings, cut-outs and medallions.

Desert Union / greeting card
2012
Printed image, card, envelope, cellophane bag
Card 15 x 21 cm

Part of the Desert Union advertising and fundraising campaign, the greeting cards, individual and in box-sets, show photographs, drawings, cut-outs and medallions.

Desert Union / badges
2012
Photographs, image, text, badges, plastic bags
Badges 2.5 cm (ea)

This work uses the existing strategies of unions, namely badges. Here the desert itself and the points of contact with humans have become the subject-matter for the badges.

Desert Union / badges
2012
Image, text, badges, plastic bags
Badges 2.5 cm (ea)

Here a logo has been created from a drawing of one of the desert bushes.

Desert Union / badges
2012
Photographs, text, badges, plastic bags
Badges 2.5 cm (ea)

Multiple images on multiple badges.

Desert Union / badge sheet
2012
Photograph & text printed on archival paper
21 x 30 cm

Sample badge sheet created for Desert Union, showing a repeat photograph of a bench from the Living Desert Park, near Broken Hill, Australia.

Desert Union / badge sheet
2012
Photographs & text printed on archival paper
21 x 30 cm

Sample badge sheet created for Desert Union, showing photographs of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / medalion
2013
Photograph and text printed on archival paper
21 x 21 cm

A set of medallions created for the Desert Union. Showing images of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / medalion
2013
Photograph and text printed on archival paper
21 x 21 cm

A set of medallions created for the Desert Union. Showing images of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / medalion
2013
Photograph and text printed on archival paper
21 x 21 cm

A set of medallions created for the Desert Union. Showing images of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / medalion
2013
Photograph and text printed on archival paper
21 x 21 cm

A set of medallions created for the Desert Union. Showing images of the desert around Broken Hill, Australia, including the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / postcard
2012
Photograph and text printed as a postcard
14 x 9 cm

Part of a set of postcards printed as a fundraising and advertising campaign for the Desert Union. Send greetings from the Desert! This one is of a latitude marker in the desert sculpture park.

Desert Union / postcard
2012
Photograph and text printed as a postcard
14 x 9 cm

Part of a set of postcards printed as a fundraising and advertising campaign for the Desert Union. Send greetings from the Desert! This one is of a path in the Living Desert Park.

Desert Union / postcard
2012
Photograph and text printed as a postcard
14 x 9 cm

Part of a set of postcards printed as a fundraising and advertising campaign for the Desert Union. Send greetings from the Desert! This one is of a desert bush.

Desert Union / postcard
2012
Photograph and text printed as a postcard
14 x 9 cm

Part of a set of postcards printed as a fundraising and advertising campaign for the Desert Union. Send greetings from the Desert! This one shows a road going through a dried creek.

Desert Union / Habitat Sign
2011
Photograph
JEPG 4.5 MB

Photograph used in the design of the cut-out and drawing series.

Desert Union / Water Tank
2011
Photograph
JEPG 4.5 MB

Photograph used in the design of the cut-out and drawing series.

Desert Union / Desert Mound
2011
Photograph
JEPG 4.5 MB

Photograph used in the design of the cut-out and drawing series.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photographs printed on hahnemuhle photographic paper and lead lights
59 x 92 cm (ea)

Photographic installation exhibited as part of 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, and 'ArtTrail' Cork 2011. Photographs show two identical bus shelters, one in the town of Broken Hill and one in the desert.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photograph printed on hahnemuhle photographic paper
59 x 92 cm

One of the two photographs of a bus shelter in the desert used as part of the installation exhibited as part of 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, and ArtTrail, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photograph printed on hahnemuhle photographic paper
59 x 92 cm

One of the two photographs of a bus shelter in Broken Hill town used as part of the installation exhibited as part of 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, and 'ArtTrail' Cork 2011.

Desert Union / Desert Marker
2011
Photograph
JEPG 4.5 MB

Photograph used in the design of the cut-out and drawing series.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photographs printed on hahnemuhle photographic paper, light boxes
25 x 34 cm (ea)

Light box photographic installation exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photograph printed on hahnemuhle photographic paper, light boxe
25 x 34 cm

Detail of the light box photographic installation exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photograph of a painting on hahnemuhle photographic paper
21 x 30 cm

One of the two photographs used as part of the light box installation exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011. Showing a painting of 'The Weatherboard Falls, Blue Mountains, Australia' by Eugen von Guérard c.1890.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Photograph printed on hahnemuhle photographic paper
21 x 30 cm

One of the two photographs used as part of the light box installation exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011. Showing a habitat from the Agricultural Museum in Budapest, Hungary.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / poster
2011
Printed poster
60 x 41 cm
Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / installation view
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

View of the table (pod) installation which housed video projections, transparency projections and TV monitors exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / installation view
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

View of the table (pod) installation which housed video projections, transparency projections and TV monitors exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

View of the table (pod) installation which housed video projections, transparency projections and TV monitors exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / installation view
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

Installation view of Desert Union exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

View of the side of the table (pod) installation which housed video projections, transparency projections and TV monitors exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' residency at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

View of the back of the table (pod) which housed video projections, transparency projections and TV monitors exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.

Desert Union at 'Worlds End' / detail
2011
Multi-media installation
Variable

View of the back of the table (pod) which housed video projections, transparency projections and TV monitors exhibited as part of the 'Worlds End' at the Guesthouse, Cork 2011.