Collection: Seb Humphreys - Order 55
ECOLOGY OF BELONGING: A SERIES OF PAINTINGS REACTING TO THE MT BOLD BUSHFIRES by Seb Humphreys - Order 55.
On January 24th 2020 The Cherry Gardens Fire entered the Scott Creek conservation park and the Mount Bold reservoir. Burning 2700 hectares of bushland over the two days.
This area was a second home to me. A place I knew like the back of my hand. Thousands of hours spent with the trees, animals and secrets that dwelt there.
A place so vast in my mind, almost limitless in its potential to carry my imagination. Feeding my daily adventure and narrative of self. Verging into almost a fantasy realm, the forest seemed infinite and immovable. Yet was reduced to charcoal.
As I scoured the remain of a blackened land, this connection to place was gone. The sense of belonging replaced with Silence. No birds, no rustling of leaves in the breeze. The absence of all life and colour. A dread and knowing that these areas would never quite feel the same as they did. The overwhelming disorientation as something that seemed so secure and un-ending as the forest itself was gone.
Exploring the fire grounds in the next months a new story of the regrowth emerged. All the stages of the regeneration of the bushland began. The reactions of the complex ecosystem springing back into life.
These paintings are a reaction to this time spent with the bushland. Informed by the changing landscape yet painted from memory. The works emphasis the emotive sense of place. Connection to a story and adventure. The ecology of seeking belonging.
