the meadows wallpaper (2022)
The Meadows Wallpaper is a re-imagined wallpaper bearing witness to the impact of colonialism on Australia’s landscape. Based on an 1860s wallpaper salvaged from an early homestead, The Meadows in Harden, it represents the historic pattern in white-washed lantana roots framing colonial depictions of local fauna; all of which are now considered extinct,endangered or vulnerable nationally. Early colonists often installed wallpaper decorated with wildflowers from their homeland. In a sense they were trying to reinstate English meadows, so the homestead was aptly named for (after?) this nostalgia. The colonists were following a European tradition dating back to Roman frescoes, of bringing the outer landscape inside. But in Australia, this seemingly harmless act represented an inherent turning away from the Indigenous. By re-imagining a wallpaperthat incorporates the Indigenous within the colonial, this work seeks to both celebrate our Indigenous inheritance and testify to the ongoing impact of colonialism on it.