A Solo Show at Nulla Nulla Regional Gallery
Recently I’ve been making the long drive south along the M1 to the Macleay Valley, where the Macleay River winds through a landscape shaped by floods and resilience. Just a couple of months ago, the river spilled its banks after torrential rain, leaving behind stories of silt, soil and renewal. Today, as I drive through this rural plain, golden light washes over rich green pastures, and the mountains to the west rise in soft blues and purples.
It’s here in South Kempsey that I’ve been installing my solo exhibition, Forgotten Remnants, at Nulla Nulla Regional Gallery. This body of work is a homage to the enduring lives of old-growth trees who are resilient survivors of the felling of forests, cleared in the wake of colonisation. Isolated in paddocks, clinging to neglected riverbanks, or sheltering in remote mountain gullies, they are remnants of once-thriving ecosystems, precious, beautiful, and deeply important.
My Studio Processes are also in the Field
My artwork begins in the field, with observation and conversations with Country. Often, I take large sheets of paper down to the riverbank, letting sediments, clay and accidental mud marks leave their traces. These marks become part of the tree’s story and a collaboration with the river that nourishes the trees I draw. Alongside the large-scale drawings are vignettes painted directly on the gallery walls in gouache and charcoal. Like the endangered trees they depict, these works are temporary. When the exhibition ends on September 6, they’ll be washed away, leaving only a memory.
This exhibition is both personal and political. It speaks of deep time, memory, colonisation, and ecological loss, but also reverence, care and shared responsibility. These old trees are living beings that have stood through generations of change. They deserve our care and protection.
I’m deeply grateful to the Macleay Valley community and all the visitors who have shown such warmth and interest in this exhibition.
What You Can Do
If you’re near the Mid North Coast, I’d love you to experience Forgotten Remnants before it closes on September 6 at Nulla Nulla Regional Gallery, inside the Slim Dusty Centre in Kempsey.
And if you can’t make it in person, maybe take a walk and find a tree in your own area that’s stood the test of time. Spend some moments with this living breathing presence. It might have more to tell you than you expect.
Warmly,
Rochelle
