By Tyler Wright
After the June 2021 storm event, Olinda-based photographer Cathy Ronalds collated a series of images capturing the aftermath and damage to the environment, called ‘There Used To Be A Canopy Here’.
With a background in environmental science and having worked in climate change policy, Ronalds has taken the opportunity to express the importance of climate change in her work in Burrinja Cultural Centre’s 2022 Climate Change Biennale.
Ronalds’ print ‘Unnatural’ will be featured in the exhibition; a photograph of a tree which fell in the storm, reflecting the “eerie” and “strange” feeling of a large, bushy forest crumpled by a weather event.
“The big bushfires that we had a couple of years ago, and then the floods and the storm that we had last year; I was really aware of the fact that we’re at this tipping point, and yet we’re already seeing these terrible natural disasters, and when the storm happened here in my own backyard I had a huge amount of eco anxiety about ‘how much more of this are we going to see?” Ronalds said.
“There was a lot of grief and anxiety about the future of our environment that was wrapped up in that piece.”
The Burrinja Climate Change Biennale will open on Saturday 3 December, showcasing the work of 44 local and interstate artists each speculating and reflecting on the future and past of our climate.
Yarra Ranges Council, Your Library and the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum have partnered with the Burrinja Cultural Centre to create the program which covers the whole ranges and displays a range of art forms.
Burrinja Cultural Centre’s Creative Director and CEO Gareth Hart said the Burrinja Climate Change Biennale Award is an opportunity for artists to reflect upon the urgent issues of our time.
“This is particularly powerful as Artists naturally pose questions, solutions and visions for a future that has yet to be realised. Speculation and curiosity are at the heart of and artists practice,” Hart said.
“This award exhibition features work from a vast array of different artists, all working in varied mediums. What they share is that each artists has positioned their work in the powerful intersections between art, climate and activism.”
To find tickets for the launch of Burrinja’s Climate Change Biennale, visit https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/burrinja-climate-change-biennale-launch-tickets-463956405097
The Biennale will run at Burrinja until Sunday 26 February 2023.
