Mountain to Mouth

I'm extremely honored to be selected to work in collaboration with artist Kerrie Bedson on a major Australian ephemeral sculpture commission by the Arts and Culture Unit of the City of Greater Geelong.  Kerrie and I will create Canoe. The Canoe Commission has been made possible by funding from founding partner Deakin University. As one of the unique ephemeral sculpture commissions now offered in Australia, Canoe will be the lead processional artwork of Mountain to Mouth 2018 – Geelong’s multi-award winning extreme arts walk, a 50-mile biennial journey of discovery over two days (4 to 5 May 2018).

M~M 2018 begins at the You Yangs mountain range, crossing Geelong’s industrial heartland at nightfall and arriving in the city center to collide with Geelong After Dark, a night of extreme and unexpected art experiences. At dawn the next day, the extreme arts walk continues through the city center to join the Barwon River, through rolling Bellarine farmland, along ocean beach to reach river mouth at Barwon Heads by sunset. M~M 2018 is about land and people, and it’s about art bringing these two together.

Canoe will be involvement in three ceremonies, then set on fire during the final ceremony, therefore the materials used to create the sculpture need to burn without toxic effect on the environment. We plan to use locally sourced bamboo and hog, beef, and sheep intestines as our main materials. Our masthead will be preserved and displayed as part of a permanent collection. Canoe will be filled with prayers for healing by the community before being offered up in flame.

We will also lead a workshop with a selected group of Deakin Creative Art students, with one student selected to continue to work with us in the creation of Canoe.

There will also be a songline moving along with Canoe on the journey. Songlines have been used by indigenous cultures across Australia for thousands of years to navigate country. The paths of the songlines are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance, and paintings.

A songline can span the lands of several different language groups and nations. The melodic contour of the song describes the nature of the land over which the song passes. Listening to the song of the land is said to be the same as walking the songline and observing the land.

Check out this promo video featuring last year's Canoe.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

The Connecting Memory app taps into a rich collection of digital stories about the iconic places and fascinating people of the region. Walkers on the M~M route will unearth stories (video, audio, images, text) as they pass through grasslands, industrial nightscapes, city centre, rural landscapes and beaches across the twelve wards of our municipality. Download now.

AWARDS

M~M is the proud recipient of multiple state and national awards – with the inaugural M~M event (M~M2014) winning a Community Development Award at the Australian Regional Development Conference Innovation Awards 2015; a National award for “Best Community Event”, a State (VIC) award for “Best Cultural, Arts or Music Event” at the Australian Event Awards 2014, and being nominated as one of five Finalists in the “Australian Event of the Year” category. M~M also received an Award for Building Health through the Arts at VicHealth’s 2014 Health Promotion Foundation Awards.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

M~M acknowledges Wadawurrung Traditional Owners of this land and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People who are part of the Greater Geelong community today. M~M is part of the Connecting Identities project of the Arts and Culture Department of the City of Greater Geelong.