The ‘A’ Word
At first I saw only spidery, matte black forms: these were not the banksia I knew from bushwalks and suburban gardens. Studded with ruby, the familiar conical flower heads grew into new, bony wings, spreading and sprouting across the white walls of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA). Created by K/Gamilaroi artist Penny Evans, gudhuwali BURN, 2022, stood totemically at the entrance of the recent 4th National Indigenous Triennial.
Threatened by clearing, disease and bushfires, 170 fire-germinated banksia species are essential fodder for all kinds of nectarivorous creatures around the coastline. By sculpting in terracotta
