Cotter Commission
In 2017 Arts in Health, Canberra Health Services, ACT Government, asked me to quote in response to a brief to produce a suite of photographic prints that addressed the ‘slow moving waters’ of the Cotter River that flows through SE NSW into the ACT to join the Murrumbidgee River. The prints were to hang in the Cotter Ward of the newly built University of Canberra Hospital - a Specialist Centre for Rehabilitation, Recovery and Research. The Cotter Ward focuses on slow recovery rehabilitation. I responded by proposing a 5-day field survey spanning the entire course of the river to identify 10 locations that visually articulated the brief. Each would be photographed using a large format camera from which 6 final prints would be chosen. I submitted the 4 images of Cave Creek, a tributary of the Goodradigbee (below), as examples of a river I had previously documented with my 10x8 inch format camera.
The quote came in significantly over the allocated budget. My approach was duly amended to fit budget constraints by limiting the documentation of the river to that which flowed through the popular Cotter Reserve - an easily accessible half-kilometre section of its course. The point of view would be that which might be observed from a picnic table or blanket located on the river bank. The Arts in Health selection panel accepted this proposal.
I received the green light in late November 2017 just after a period of torrential rainfall in the Cotter catchment. Water was cascading over the new Cotter Dam wall. The river was anything but slow moving through the Reserve. (See pics below). Regardless, throughout December 2017, I took about 120 iPhone survey pictures in preparation for photographing the river when it reverted (hopefully) to a more normal, tranquil state in the New Year.
In January and February 2018, I took a further 600 iPhone survey photographs and finally decided on six sites from which to take large format photographs. The final and submitted images (with documentation of camera locations) are below.
Photograph of one of the six prints installed in the Cotter Ward.
Installation photograph
Above image courtesy of the University of Canberra Hospital Specialist Centre for Rehabilitation, Recovery and Research. ACT Health
Step Up Step Down Commission
This photograph was taken during the Cotter Commission and it suited well another ACT Health commission for a work to hang in the longue of a domestic-scaled mental health facility, Step Up Step Down, in Garran.
Camera location
Installation photograph
Image courtesy of the University of Canberra Hospital Specialist Centre for Rehabilitation, Recovery and Research. ACT Health
The uncropped 10x8 inch transparency
ACT Suruban Land Agency Display Village Loan of Artwork
A feature wall in the living room of the Innovation Precinct (undergoing interior decoration) with two works by John Reid. Left: Rocks with Lichen. South East National Park. Near Bombala NSW. 2011. Right: Mallee. Riverland Biosphere, Culpuram Station NSW. Engaging Visions Field Study. 2008.
Canberra’s newest suburb (completion date 2025), Whitlam, was named after Australia’s 21st Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam - 1972 to 1975.
The ACT Suburban Land Agency’s Whitlam Display Village opened on the 1st November 2022 with the external walls and interior spaces of its Innovation Precinct featuring 55 artworks by 9 Canberra artists. The artworks, collectively titled Of Land and Belonging, address themes of place and environment and are on a paid 12 month loan to the Agency.
The innovative initiative was instigated by artist and curator, Dr Hanna Hoyne, who is the 2021/22 recipient of the inaugural Arts ACT Recovery & Resilience in-Government Directorate Residency, where she has been a visiting researcher with the Environment Planning & Sustainable Design Directorate and the Suburban Land Agency.
The artists currently on display are Amanda Stuart, Amelia Zaraftis, John Reid, Marzena Wasikowska, Byrd, Nicola Dickson, Aidan Hartshorn, AEODE, and Dan Power. After the12 month loan period, the artworks will be returned to the artists or made available for onward sale. The ACT Suburban Land Agency intends to work with Canberra’s art community on future exhibitions and events.
Whitlam Display Village - Innovation Precinct centre left. Photograph: SLA
A bedroom in the Innovation Precinct with two works by John Reid. Left: 2 Diamantina River, Qld, at the Stroke of Midday. 2007. Right: Balonne River, Qld. 2007.
The Stockland Shellharbour Travelator Wall Commission
Submission for the Travelator Wall Commission
John Reid Walking the Solar System Shellharbour NSW 27 February 2012 2012 450.0 x 1900.0 cm. Photographic documentation of performance.
Solar Walk Advisor: Marzena Wasikowska. Photography / Post production: Rob and Sandie Little, RLDI
PROPOSAL
Friday 16 March 2012
As you walk the Travelator you are also walking the Solar System.
When you ‘Walk the Solar System’
you are reminded of the enormity of the universe
and that Earth is a precious enclave within it.
Arching limbs of a local Moreton Bay Fig tree encapsulate the entrance to Stockland Shellharbour and nudge artist John Reid on a Solar System walk at 1,800 kilometres per minute relative to the Sun.
There are many beautiful places in Shellharbour where you can safely Walk the Solar System: first, pause and steady your breathing; second, strike a walking pose at odds with the force of gravity but in sympathy with your surroundings; then take the strain and reflect on your body hurtling through space. When you ‘Walk the Solar System’ you are reminded of the enormity of the universe and that Earth is a precious enclave within it.
The spaces beneath the generous branches of Shellharbour’s Moreton Bay Fig trees have sustained, protected and inspired human beings for millennia. The trees are native to the Illawarra and are of substantial cultural significance to the people of the region. The fig supplemented the diet of local Aboriginal people and the tree’s embracing branches welcomed newborn Wodi Wodi babies into the world. Since the 19th century, settlers from many other cultural backgrounds have also taken shelter beneath the tree’s broad green leaves. More often than not, Moreton Bay Figs are beacons in the landscape. A Fig tree on Dunster’s Hill was used in the mid-nineteen hundreds to signal the arrival of supply ships to the region.
This mural-sized image of a Shellharbour Moreton Bay Fig acknowledges the tree’s cultural stature to artistically signal a shopping centre with a 21st century perspective – one that is aware of the big picture and is locally active in response to it.
Under a roof of hundreds of solar panels, Stockland Shellharbour lets you shine to declare who you are, where you are coming from and what you value. The centre provides generous spaces for exciting cultural interaction on a scale and in a way unprecedented in Australian shopping centres. Meeting places, educational precincts, performance spaces, exhibition venues and play areas mix together with a myriad of retail and food outlets to establish Stockland Shellharbour as a community centre where people will gravitate. You are bound to meet and greet your solurban neighbour.
My response to the Stockland Travelator Wall Commission was to undertake a performance artwork.
Performance art is specifically a visual art form - its aesthetic pitch is principally to the eye. The performance artist uses their own body and the setting in which it is located as the principal elements by which to express the intent of the artwork.
In this instance, the performance was undertaken especially for the camera. The publication of the artwork, and its appreciation, is via a still photograph. The photograph submitted in response to the commission is therefore a ‘documentation of the performance’ and is charged with delivering the essence of the artwork. The photograph becomes its enduring and tangible manifestation.
The performance involved an original action I have devised called ‘Walking the Solar System’ - where one assumes a walking posture: at odds with the force of gravity; in an aesthetic relationship with a significant place; and sustained for as long as possible while contemplating both the expanse of the solar system and one’s precarious position in it.
This procedure has its origins in a performance, ‘Force of Habit’, presented at the ANU in 2002. See below:
John Reid Force of Habit 2002 Video still. Documentation of performance
Within the last 12 months a series of ‘Solar System Walks’ have emerged. ‘Walks’ from the Far South Coast, NSW, and the Mallee, South Australia, were exhibited last year as part of ANU School of Art Field Studies exhibitions at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery and ANU School of Art Gallery respectively. (See below)
John Reid Walking the Solar System Snapper Point near Kioloa NSW 2011. 47.5 x 47.5 cm Documentation of performance
John Reid Walking the Solar System Calperum Station SA 2011 47.5 x 47.5 cm Documentation of performance
Above John Reid Walking the Solar System Shellharbour NSW 11 February 2012 2012 Photographic documentation of performance.
Below Cropped and slightly elongated to fit the proportions for the Travelator Wall brief, the above image is reorientated to favour the figure in the upright position and to extend the branches horizontally to embrace the architectural space. (The Solar System knows no ‘up’ or ‘down’). This image, taken by Marzena Wasikowska, was selected as the ‘template’ for a reshoot, by Rob Little on February 21, to deliver the required resolution for the brief.
The conceptual background of ‘Walking the Solar System’ as a thematic concept has its origins with the well established mantra ‘Think globally, act locally’. The variation on this theme that this work presents is part of the never ending process of reminding ourselves (a task to which artists can contribute) of the precarious nature of existence, not so much of life itself, but of our species. It is in our own interests to accept the responsibility for the care of the planet we inhabit. This is reflected in the green ethos and the socially sensitive considerations of this Stockland development.
The artwork is tendered as an image for contemplation as one approaches and then rides the Travelator. As the patrons of Stockland Shellharbour arrive to enjoy (or depart having already enjoyed) the mix of commercial, cultural and social benefits readily available, the artwork above them might evoke reflection on the grand scheme of things and all that is necessary to support a life worth living. The figure of the artist ‘Walking the Solar System’ visually articulates, in both a literal and a profound way, the Centre’s promotional message: ‘Come Shine’.
As the conceptual underpinning of ‘Walking the Solar System’ has matured, I have been looking for a context in which to expose the work to a wider public. Such a launch could include a community art project instigated via social media. The Stockland Shellharbour Travelator Wall Commission presents an excellent opportunity to significantly establish this concept on a large scale.
Should the work be selected for the Travelator Wall it would meet this objective literally. However, the potential for the artwork to become the focus of, and extend into, a community art project is ‘waiting in the wings’. In brief, the regional community could at some appropriate stage be invited to ‘Walk the Solar System’ in Shellharbour and submit their photographic documentations for exhibition at Stockland Shellharbour. If such a prospect were considered desirable, it would of course be jointly developed with Stockland. I have secured the domain names in anticipation:
<www.walkingthesolarsystem.com> and <.com.au>
For me, the local Moreton Bay Fig emerged during the artist briefing for the commission as a eminently suitable motif for the Travelator Wall. The tree has cultural significance across the ethnic diversity of people of the Illawarra Region. In the recent past the trees have been lovingly propagated. Today they are cherished for their grandeur, iconic status and enduring presence as landmarks.
The Moreton Bay Fig at Wentworth Cottage Park, that overlooks the Shellharbour City Centre and the Stockland Shellharbour development, was noticed during the artist briefing, on 7 February, 2012. Its visual aesthetic potential for a ‘Solar System Walk’ was immediately apparent. Subsequent research at Tongarra Museum, Albert Park, confirmed the Fig’s historical importance and, by implication, its contemporary cultural significance. The tree’s suitability as a visual motif of place - that might physically and conceptually command the Travelator space - became apparent with the first photographic session at the tree on Saturday 11 February, 2012. Five ‘Walks’ from various parts of the tree were undertaken. One photograph from hundreds of exposures was selected as the ‘template’ for the final field photographic shoot to achieve the required resolution. See photographs previous page. The final shoot took place at Wentworth Cottage Park on 27 February, 2012.
John Reid Walking the Solar System Shellharbour NSW 27 February 2012 2012 450.0 x 1900.0 cm. Photographic documentation of performance.
Solar Walk Advisor: Marzena Wasikowska. Photography / Post production: Rob and Sandie Little, RLDI
Footnote
The Stockland Shellharbour proposal was not successful. A scaled down version of the final image (above) was mounted in the Stockland Shellharbour Community Meeting Room