Rock Love exhibition focuses on region’s minerals, woodlines, and dust

Minerals, woodlines, and dust feature heavily in a new Goldfields-focused art exhibition by visiting artist Perdita Phillips. Open at Artgold until November 29, Rock Love brings together mixed media works responding to the past and present landscapes of the region, and is the culmination of a residency completed by Dr Phillips last year. Her time in the region saw her dive into the archives of the Museum of the Goldfields and trace aspects of the woodlines to combine with the geological nature of the region — creating prints, photographs, short animations, and floor mats. The photographs come from the Dwyer and Mackay Photographic Collection which captures the Goldfields dating back to the 1890s, while the woodlines refer to what Dr Phillips described as a “web” of paths still visible today that were forged as a network of temporary rail lines. While going through the archives and looking for imagery of the landscapes, trees and minerals, Dr Phillips said she noticed a recurring issue with red dust and began thinking of ways to incorporate it into her exhibition as well. Some of the pieces on display feature prints with soil on them and dust pasted over images. There are also pieces on the ground to explore, such as mats with images of old mines filled with water, which visitors are encouraged to walk on in clean socks. Dr Phillips said the reason for her exhibition was to try to connect all three areas — the archives, minerals, and woodlines — but she found herself faced with an abundance of creative options. “The main ideas were around damage and repair to the landscape, disaster, and recovering from disaster in a broad sort of sense, and also extractivism,” she said. “The biggest challenge was . . . I had so many ideas. It was such a rich sort of adventure last year, so I had to try and come up with something that I could actually make into something that would fit into a gallery that was really awesome fun. “And I had lots of dead ends and incredible experiences . . . which are still waiting ideas. “There is so much richness to it that I could go back and do the same project all over again, because there were so many different things that happened. “So it has ended up being quite an endless process, which is good, but I’m glad I got things in the gallery and I’m very happy with what is in there.” Dr Phillips’ residency was funded by Royalties for Regions and organised by Art On The Move, with the exhibition also being funded by the State Government.