WALKING THE MERRI
In March 2012, inspired by Freya Mathews’s book, Journey to the Source of the Merri. I began a walk downstream from the source of the Merri to its confluence with the Yarra. I walked with Lesley Harding, and each day we were joined by a third walker.
The walk took seven days and became an artistic re-enactment of sorts. It was not about treading new ground, rather it set out a proposition: that I could experience the whole creek, not vicariously and fleetingly from train or car window, but by retracing the steps of all those who had walked this way before. Not just Freya and friends, Hume and Hovell or Ned Kelly, but also the countless generations of people who walked and lived in this place before colonisation.
Day Two
Wallan to Merri Park
Day Three
Merri Park to Lockerbie
Day Four
Lockerbie to Craigieburn
Day Five
Craigieburn to Fawkner
Day Six
Fawkner to Preston
RMIT Project SpaceWalking the Merri - from source to confluence2014
Rebecca Mayo
Roseanne Bartley
Tony Birch
Caroline Henbest
Anna Topalidou
Ilka white
Curator: Lesley Harding
Walking the Merri: From Source to Confluence (gallery view)
RMIT Project Space
Gaiters Day 3, Worn (external surface)
2013
Bidgee widgee seeds, hemp, wool, buttons, hook and eye tape, screenprinted and dyed with gorse, periwinkle, willow bark, oxalis, broom, mistletoe
48 x 40 cm each
Gaiters Day 5, Worn (internal surface)
2013
Creek water, mud, hemp, wool, buttons, hook and eye tape, screenprinted and dyed with gorse, periwinkle, willow bark, oxalis, broom, mistletoe
48 x 40 cm each
Gaiters Day 6, Worn (external surface)
2013
Ash, bidgee widgee seeds, hemp, wool, buttons, hook and eye tape, screenprinted and dyed with gorse, periwinkle, willow bark, oxalis, artichoke thistle, red gum
48 x 40 cm each
Gaiters Day 6, Worn (internal surface)
2013
Ash, hemp, wool, buttons, hook and eye tape, screenprinted and dyed with gorse, periwinkle, willow bark, oxalis, artichoke thistle, red gum
48 x 40 cm each
Gaiters Day 7, Worn (external surface)
2013
Dirt, creek water, silk, buttons, hook and eye tape, screenprinted and dyed with willow bark, oxalis, artichoke thistle, Tradescantia fluminensis
48 x 40 cm each
Seven pairs of pockets
2013
Wool, hemp, cotton, screenprinted and dyed with willow bark, oxalis, artichoke thistle, red gum, gorse, periwinkle
48 x 34 cm (approximately)
Walking the Merri: From Source to Confluence (installation view)
Catalogue and artist book
Walking the Merri: From Source to Confluence
Catalogue and artist book
Day 3.
p. 16&17
Walking the Merri: From Source to Confluence
Catalogue and artist book
p. 42&43
Ilka White
Grasses Sash and Well