The Black Saturday bush fires haunted me.
They did the day they happened, they did that night on the news, they did every day afterwards, when we visited 6 weeks later, and again 3 months later and still two years along .. and I wasn’t even there. Victoria Australia, 7 February 2009.
I can’t begin to to explain why it has moved me more than so many other tragedies in the world .. proximity maybe? Feeling the hell as it spread along the earth .. our earth, near me. How so introspective I became as a result.
On that day, the heat of the day was like a furnace. We were locked in a tiny apartment with no air conditioning .. inside was 37c outside was 47c. Opening the door was like stepping into furnace with the hot 80 km burning air assaulting your lungs .. and when the news broke .. my heart crumpled as I could not even imagine the horror of the being trapped inside the furnace, yet people were there, living the hell and dying within it.
Anyhoooo …
Eventually weeks later, a plea came for tourists to visit the stricken towns to reinvigorate what remained of the local business. We hopped in the car and headed to Kinglake only an hour from our place. Even typing now I remember how overwhelmed I became when the charcoal forest engulfed us. We stopped and I was heart broken as we walked through the ash in what seemed a white Arctic landscape sculpted with charcoal.
Ray takes wonderful photos, below is a slideshow of what we saw just 6 weeks after the fires.
Slowly we moved towards the township of Kinglake. I was amazed at what Mother Nature had unleashed .. it was natural selection in its purist form. One home decimated, the next home unscathed. And so the pattern continued until we came upon the SES site in Kinglake .. just a crumple of desolation on this Earth. The heat of the fires was astounding .. the metal of chainsaws, motor bikes and tools had become molten puddles. And unburnt segments had melted to the ground being surrounded in the vast heat of the furnace. Crockery in the kitchen smashed on the floor had its glaze had refired creating iridized hues.
But the image which screamed out loud ‘people were here’ was the burnt-out car, door open … like an empty coffin … it was revolting. As we drove we noticed the recovery program had nailed on properties a plastic number, identifying the remains of an address no longer distinguishable, it was like mortuary tagging. Chimney remnants and melted homes; I could not shake the thought of people being trapped in this furnace on that horrific day.
This slideshow is the remnants on that day.
SES building
Refired crockery
Survival
Into town we arrived to see our favorite 2nd hand shop .. they greeted customers like every-day and every one ensured that tragedy conversation was not on the agenda pn this day of rebirth. We spent some dollars for a small coffee table and moved on for some wonderful bakery goodies and coffees, the place was full .. the staff were champions, the community was going to survive. It was great to help in even the tiniest of ways although it was weird being a ‘site-seer’of a tragedy but I grateful I could participate somehow.
As we headed home, we saw cars pulling off the road and police cars setting up at intersections. We had forgotten it was a major united bike ride to the town that day by all forms of motorcycles to the community of Kinglake. As sheer luck would have it, we pulled up at a round-about just minutes before the bikes began flooding by .. it was indeed a flood! Hundreds upon hundreds came flowing down the hillside along the road we were parked. Local families and children were lining the road to wave to the bikers passing by and the stream of variety poured endlessly for over 30 minutes passing us.
An awesome sight!
Bikes, trikes, scooters, roadsters, trail bikes, Harleys with patches covered .. all were united. Wearing Aussie flags, everybody waving. Gosh I hope those coffee shops were ready! More amazing photos by Ray yet again for you below.
Bikes arriving
The stream begins
And continues ..
And continues for nearly 30 minutes.
All sorts
The mood was awesome
Heading into town.
Creating emotional art
And finally home with photos, some remnants of wood, molten metal and broken crockery in tow. I set about capturing the images, the emotions in my heart of the tragedy into a triptych. I wanted to create three panels of art. I sent some of the remnants to an artist friend in Brisbane who spent many years in the community and others to another friend in NSW who once had home in Kinglake.
I had at home some timber veneer blue-gum panels left-over from a previous project, they were the perfect canvas for this project. I had been playing over the years with pyrography and marquetry but my tools were rudimentary, certainly not capable of a major artwork. As luck would have the manufacturer of one of Australia’s leading pyrography tools was just a few blocks away and I went to consult with them on my tool requirements (see www.ironcore.com.au)
“When hell breathed”
‘When hell breathed’
The first project was my nightmare, the haunting of the people trapped in the furnace. I had dreamt over and over of screaming and only Munch’s version spoke clearly to me. Here I replicated Munch in silver leaf.
Embedded are the remains we found, molten metal and smashed crockery. The wood burning technique became the charcoal trees and an empty wind of dust pushes through my scene stirring up the ashes created. I called the first piece ‘When hell breathed’.
Nature’s Rebirth
4 months later we drove back to Kinglake, again to our favorite shops, bakery and coffee. The regrowth was amazing, it was small but glinting though! Little leaves, clusters of green and pink popping from the trees. The contrast was surreal as the the forest floor remained still, it was nothing but pure dead ash which seemed to be unrepentive in desolation.
It was a like walking in a crematorium surrounded by the glory of Mother Nature. The weirdest dichotomy of life swirling around simultaneously. I know weird word choices but it was a weird sensation.
The tree silhouettes were like columns towering in the skyline, yet more amazing photos by Ray below.
“Lost souls, found souls”
Rebirth: “Lost souls, found souls”
When my son saw the first mural, he mentioned that he imagined hundreds of tombstones in the landscape. The rebirth visit was exactly that .. life and death occurring simultaneously and hence the theme for my second mural inspired by the photos, the regrowth and the ash all together.
The cycle of life forever repeats itself; when my grandfather died my son was born. My grandmother commented how one life dies and another is born, it is continually transforming itself. Hence I called this piece “Lost souls, found souls”.
If you click on the image, it will open a larger version so you can explore the artwork in detail.
“A day in the life of Mother Nature”
“A day in the life of”
Whilst we marvel in the life and death of nature and the resilience of people to bounce back from tragedy, the financial cost was also overwhelmingly evident.
This last piece I created from a photo of a home across the road from the SES which we saw during both visits. The house remained standing but it was melted, warped, buckled beyond repair. The black burnt out trees standing around it, the front picket gate totally unscathed.
Even 4 months later it was still there unoccupied as the new greenery sprouted around. I collected some charcoal which was surrounded by new growth from the site and embedded it into the artwork.
To me this depicted everything I have spoken about above: the destruction, the people, natural selection, the rebirth, the cost .. all another day in the life of Mother Nature.
The melted house across the road from the SES.
So this ends my journal about the Black Saturday bush-fires. There are hundreds of photos on Google and videos on YouTube, please take the time to browse some of them – its a reminder we are just visitors.
ALWAYS THE ARTIST
Dina
