BLACK SUMMER - BUSHFIRES 2019 SERIES 1
This series was painted during the weeks and months after the disasterous bush fires swept the East Coast of Australia. The disaster resulted in thirty-three direct fatalities, an estimated 417 indirect deaths, over 4,000 injuries, and more than 63,000 displaced residents. The economic impact was staggering, with over 3,000 homes completely destroyed and total financial damages estimated to exceed 100 billion Australian dollars.
The environmental toll was equally unprecedented, as twenty-four million hectares of land burned across the country. Experts estimate that three billion animals were killed, injured, or permanently displaced by the fires, which completely scorched eight and a half million hectares of native southern and eastern forests. This ecological devastation heavily depopulated 680 plant species and 293 animal species, pushing many closer to extinction.
The artist was living five kilometers from what would become the Nightcap National Park fire front. She self evacuated with her son, merely by chance, on the day the fire started. What she thought would be a weekend break turned out to be almost a month before it was safe to return. These works were completed in makeshift accommodations or short term holiday rentals and the boards are all salvaged, due to the nature of the circumstances surrounding the extraordinary times during which they were painted.
