This collection was born out of my love for wildflower season in South East Queensland, particularly on the southern part of Butchulla country in the Cooloola region. In August this year, I visited a few different sites in Cooloola with my mother, Nai Nai Bird and father, David Barrowcliffe, to see what wildflowers were starting to appear.
The sites we walked over were quite different from one another. The first site was a rather desolate looking clearing dominated by the dark slash pines of Toolara Plantation on one side and the scraggly bush of Cooloola National park on the other. The second site was a section of the Cooloola National Park that was rejuvenating after a recent control burn. The third site was a small creek surrounded by a residential area. All of the sites had been subjected to human interference in some way.
What I enjoyed most about the walks was that most of the flowers we saw were very small and delicate. Many are easily overlooked by those rushing through the area, or those who are distracted by the more showy banksias or hybrid grevilleas you see growing in the area. But once you had tuned your eye into seeing the small flowers you noticed them everywhere and they seemed to me to be even more special for their juxtaposition against the backdrop of burnt landscapes, pine plantations and housing estates.
I chose some of my favourite photos from these walks to turn into the lino prints that form this collection. The prints are imperfect just like the sites we visited to find the wildflowers. In the prints, you can see marks around the print from the lino carving process. I decided to keep these there because I felt that it mirrored the original photos which often had other vegetation surrounded the subject of the photo.
The photos and the lino prints are a small snapshot of wildflowers and plants that can be found in the Cooloola region, but more importantly, they are a reminder that slow processes, such as walking and printing, can offer great rewards.
Reports (10)
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ReportCoastal paperbark flower
Coastal paperbark flower
Mullen Creek, Cooloola Cove
Rose Barrowcliffe29th Sep, 2020 -
ReportWallum banksia flower
Wallum banksia flower
Mullen Creek, Cooloola Cove
Rose Barrowcliffe29th Sep, 2020 -
ReportProstrate wedding bush
Prostrate wedding bush
Mullen Creek, Cooloola Cove
Rose Barrowcliffe29th Sep, 2020 -
ReportMullen Creek fern
Mullen Creek fern
Mullen Creek, Cooloola Cove
Rose Barrowcliffe29th Sep, 2020 -
ReportYellow flowered gompholobium
Yellow flowered gompholobium
Mullen Creek, Cooloola Cove
Rose Barrowcliffe29th Sep, 2020 -
ReportBurnt leptospermum with regrowth
Burnt leptospermum with regrowth
Cooloola
Rose Barrowcliffe29th Sep, 2020