25 August - 11 September, 2010

The project was initiated by an Australia Council grant which funded 12 months for studio research. Applying the model to Australia is a process that explores the layers of cultural identity, uncovering the connections that relate history to belief. In Europe, Britain and America Schama's study revealed the mesh of associations between art, literature, cultural traditions and the historical past. In Australia historical memory is controversial, especially in relation to the land and if we have a single, distinctive characteristic it is ambivalence towards our national culture. Homeland is an exploration of both personal and Australian identity.

The original model was a map of recurring dreams. The concept formed the basis of Call Signs, a landscape which became increasingly detailed over the five years of the project. I started writing down my dreams when I was 13 and many of the dreams relate to periods from my childhood. Dreams in the streets around my home interconnect naturally, but others are fictitious places which have formed permanent relationships or conduits with other locations. The map has developed into a complex of districts which are formed not so much around geographic boundaries as emotional states. The districts are described in a Key which accompanies the maps.

Some clearly relate to childhood:

22. At the bottom of the garden is a wooden gate. It's so overgrown it's almost invisible. I really want to go through.

23. On the other side is a long, straight, country lane. The path is rutted by tyres and the potholes are filled with rain, but I've never seen any cars coming this way. It's a long walk. On my left is a dense pine forest. The trees are very tall and it's dark in there. The lane is quite boggy. I have to watch where I step. I love coming here.

Others have more adult preoccupations:

24. There's a lift to the next floor. It's an office block, cheap space: marble tiles and wood veneer. Sometimes there's an exhibition up here somewhere. It's easy to go in the wrong door. The businesses are things like travel agencies, private language tuition and function rooms for stressful meetings. Someone sells art but I think it's dodgy. There's only ever a couple of staff around and they don't like people coming in.

You wonder why they bother. I try not to let my footsteps echo.

Homeland #1 contains 12 maps and is the first in a series of approximately 40 maps.

Landscape painting is political as well as personal. The genre is a claim to cultural ownership and its strategies, when not indigenous, are colonial. Australia was established through two acts of possession: one by Captain Cook in 1770 which claimed the east coast and the other by Governor Phillip in 1788 which established the colony of New South Wales. The judgement on the Mabo native title claim in 1992 found that native title was not extinguished by the act of 'settlement' but the claim to possession itself has never been examined, nor is it ever likely.

Australia's continued possession of this continent is assured but its legitimacy remains permanently in question. Continuing research examines the formation of Australian identity at first contact through the works of art produced by the artists on the Endeavour including Sydney Parkinson, Herman Sporing, Cook himself and the Tahitian Tupaia in collaboration with Joseph Banks.