A few weeks ago in March, Sydney-based artist Cat Jones and I embarked on a 2-week residency at Big Ci in Bilpin, New South Wales, Australia to explore our working collaboration and make a start on our brand new project Tree. I’m really excited about Tree! The project delves into the depths of our imagination, drawing on Neuroscience, plant signaling, the symbology of forests and on our very personal imagined stories, related to the woods. Once finished, it will take the form of a site-specific audio walk through a forest and lead to a book project published alongside.

Big Ci was a perfect location for making a start on this work, tucked away in the scenic Blue Mountains, surrounded by bushland. We were taken on an introductory walk, to get to know the local landscape and tree species and worked alongside other (inter)national artists in a spacious studio.

Before and after the residency, I travelled to Sydney, to Melbourne and to Launceston and Hobart in Tasmania, to meet up with festival and venue producers and peer artists.  Cat and I have already been invited for the next 2 -weeks residency in March 2018, to develop Tree further. This residency will take place at Arts House in Melbourne and is funded through a Culture Lab commission. I can’t wait to return to Australia!

The trip was kindly supported through the Arts Council’s and British Council’s Artist International Development Fund.