What elements of life on the Pittwater’s western foreshore have influenced your approach to art making?

As a long term resident of Pittwater's western foreshores I have developed an appreciation of the rich natural heritage of Kuringai Chase National Park and its marine environment in particular. As well as giving me a deep appreciation of its natural beauty, living in such close proximity to Pittwater and the mouth of the Hawkesbury River has provided me with a unique perspective from which to witness daily changes to the coastline as well as changes that have taken place over many decades. In the last few years extreme weather events along the east coast of Australia have been fundamental in focusing my arts practice on work that tackles aspects of climate change. Recent artwork made with the support of the Northern Beaches Arts and Creativity Grant responds to the erosion of my local beach and a small forest of beachside casuarinas.

 

On a purely practical front, my art making has been influenced by having to cross a kilometre of water, transporting my work via wheelbarrow and ferry, a restraint which sees larger scale works compartmentalised or made in series.

Themes of your work often deal with our relationship to the natural environment. Can you share your view on the power of art to drive social and environmental change?

Although I am sometimes pessimistic about the ability of the arts to drive social and environmental change directly, I believe the arts can be an incredibly effective way to engage the emotions; to inform people in a deeply personal way about its subject. The great power of art is its ability to make people feel. This is fundamentally important because I believe that before we can be moved to take the steps needed to make social and environmental change it is necessary for us to care deeply about the environment.

 

The campaign that saved the Franklin River in Tasmania from being dammed back in the 80's was successful in large part due to the powerful photography of Peter Dombrovskis, photographs which allowed the wider public to see and feel what was truly at stake.

What is one location on the western foreshore of Pittwater you think everyone should visit?

What first springs to mind as a location that reveals the spectacular nature of Pittwater, that great body of water and the drowned coastlines that fringe it, is the lookout at West Head. From here you can look across the mouth of the Hawkesbury River as well as the main body of Pittwater as it extends south from Barrenjoey Headland towards Scotland Island at its far reaches. What for me is most iconic about the western foreshores, however, are the plateaus and escarpments of the headlands. When I am walking along the ridges I am witness to a powerful sense of history and continuity, a place where the ancient rock platforms with their Aboriginal engravings speak to a way of life and a connection to land that goes back thousands of years – a way of life in which art, the environment, and culture are not separate..

Do you have any words of wisdom for young artists looking to build their career?

To be an artist requires many qualities – the skill to put down what it is one wants to communicate, the understanding to know what that is, the resilience to keep making the work in the face of failure and rejection, the courage to keep pushing past one's own doubts. Nothing is more important than the work itself. Acquire the skills and explore what it is you feel most deeply about. 

I would also say, look for your mentors, the artists who inspire you, those whose work pushes you to go to the very edge of your practice. Don't let the need for commercial success (the phenomenon of social media) stifle your creative freedom to experiment and take risks. The competition to find a place for one's art is fierce and can be distracting. Do the work, and if you're lucky the rest will follow.

 

To quote Rainer Maria Rilke, in Letters to a Young Poet

 

“Keep growing quietly and seriously throughout your whole development; you cannot disturb it more rudely than by looking outward and expecting from outside replies to questions that only your inmost feeling in your most hushed hour can perhaps answer.”

Gallery

Images courtesy Jenny Pollak

View more images on Jenny's website