Looking-into-Leichhardt_catalogue_Oct2013_Gannon+friends

Leichhardt Dreaming (2) 120 x 120 cm oil on linen 2013

It continues to be a remarkable journey for me to be included in this rediscovery of Ludwig Leichhardt. Through Bill Gannon’s passionate and academic approach I was generously asked to contribute my impressions of the tall Prussian. I was able to join Bill and Rod Schlencker at what was the bitter sweet successful conclusion of Leichhardt’s epic journey. From the mystifying descent from Jim Jim Falls to the Coburg Peninsula. Prior to my joining the expedition I immersed myself in John Bailey’s fantastic Into The Unknown and while that certainly provided a much needed background and overview of not only the man but the circumstances and landscape that shaped the figure that still for me made his presence felt. Strangely my contribution to this exhibition was developed while I was an artist in residence in a village outside of Beijing. I mention this because I had sent the half finished pieces over there for my 3 month residency to be completed. The circumstances: pollution, isolation, sickness made the work I had sent look unresolved. They had to go. I had to dig deeper. This was when I felt like (at least on an emotional level) I could access Leichhardt somewhat. Though he had successfully navigated the mammoth journey thus far and made the terrifying descent into Kakadu (what can only have felt like Eden), his men resented him. He was alone in his achievement. The further we followed this last leg of his journey to the Coburg Peninsula, it felt to me at least like he was leaving everything behind. Anglo Saxon values and expectations seemed completely insignificant. For me his greatest lesson is the respect he had for the land. He wasn’t conquering and commanding. Like the Aboriginals he learnt from, he was becoming a part of it.

Leichhardt's Poems (1) 25 x 25 cm pencil and watercolour on paper 2013

Leichhardt's Poems (3) 25 x 25 cm pencil and watercolour on paper 2013

Leichhardt Healing (1) 120 x 120 cm oil on linen 2013

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