Lightness of Being

Eye of the Beholder (detail)

I’ve been creating images of trees. Somehow they seem to soothe me. They belong in the landscape, have roots deep in the earth. They are a calming presence in nature, breathing out oxygen for us to breathe in. Inhale, exhale, the stuff of life on planet earth.

On another level I also am acutely aware of their fragility. They are no match for bulldozers, plagues of beetles, ringbarking, drought or fire. They call me to action in the fight to protect their habitat, something that I feel is within my power to do.

I know it is achievable because I live amongst the success stories of conservation battles from the 1980s. I recently discovered that the paperbark swamp behind our house was scheduled for destruction during the initial planning of the suburban subdivision in which we live.

A road was scheduled to be built right through the centre of the swamp, joining up two sides of the town. Now the road stops at the wetlands and the swamp has become a bushland corridor for koalas to move between green zones for feeding and breeding.

Light between the trees in this small forest is modulated and dappled. Gentle to dwell within. Cooler, protecting. It inspires me to look for ways to bring that light into my artworks.

I’m trying hard to sustain a ‘lightness of being’ to counter balance the destruction, genocide, injustice and inhumanity we hear of daily which threatens to derail belief that there is still good in the world.

These tree images I am currently creating are from my time spent amongst the Moonah trees in the Mornington Peninsula. Their distinctive sinuous shapes look like they are dancing entwined. I’ve selectively bleached areas to bring in spots of light. It creates an other worldly feeling to the landscape, a sense of ‘tree spirit’ or benevolence.

Introducing a glow to these treed landscapes is not trying to make everything appear rosy or ’golden’. I know that the bad exists but I need to find ways to uplift my spirit. These landscapes remind me that beauty is in the ‘eye of the beholder’.

It seemed like a fitting title for this artwork. It can be whatever the viewer wants to see in it. I chose to see light and hope.

Eye of the Beholder 2025 cyanotype on handmade kozo paper