Inspiration:  The Australian summer of 2019-2020 is now being called “Black Summer” and is amongst the worst bushfires in Australian history with over One Billion deaths across our wildlife, both great and small. The weight of this destruction is just too much to process. I think it will take a long time to recover and I know our land and people will come back from this. The Fire had devastated so many species and even one of our most iconic animals; the Koala.

This piece pays tribute to those animals that had nowhere to go, so that their life and memory wasn’t forever stained by how they left this world. I wanted to create new life and something beautiful out of the ashes from something so tragic.

Koalas are arboreal and live in woodlands typically dominated by eucalyptus species. They will only remain on the ground long enough to move to another tree in search of food. Distribution has been reduced from habitat disturbance through land clearing, drought, changing fire patterns, and changes to fire management. The devastation to habitat by the fires that occurred in January of 2020 has had a direct impact on koala populations due to the intensity and widespread area. Many koalas were caught in the canopy and could not escape, resulting in death or severe injury. Among the injured, many are in remote locations and will not be rescued. With the canopy lost and any water source contaminated, they may fall prey to opportunistic feral predators.

This piece forms part of a themed collection that is focused on protected, threatened, and endangered Australian species. Through the expansion of European settlement, many species have been displaced by human encroachment, changing fire patterns, victims of predation, or have been exposed to disease. Raising awareness remains as the most significant challenge in the effort to reduce these possible outcomes. These represent the absence of the existence of wildlife in their natural environments.

This series has specifically utilised heat, flame, and soot to achieve the varying golden browns and charcoal greys present in the finished artwork.