Images – Tara Gilbee ‘Moon Gate’ 2017 Cinnamon Sticks, string and wood. Approx 2mt x 3mt
Big Walk Gold Mountain – Punctum Inc
Big Walk to Golden Mountain is one of several national events marking the 160th year of Chinese migration to the goldfields. This month-long project paid tribute to the 500km walking trek from Robe in South Australia to the central Victorian goldfields undertaken by gold seekers from the Guangdong region in China. Devised by Castlemaine based Punctum Inc., Big Walk to Golden Mountain explored the contemporary influence of this historic migration landscape in our region using a breadth of art forms. It also represents the regional contribution to the Art Centre’s major Asia TOPA program, connecting it to the goldfields of Central Victoria.
For full details Punctum Weblink
My contribution and the images above are part of the ‘Interior View’ section of this project.
Interior View (Part 3)
Saturday 18th – Friday 24th March
In China, the fig tree symbolizes peace and abundance. A zen courtyard of quartz boulders is presided over by an ancient fig tree. The boulders evoke the hills defining Jaara country and the Goldfields of Mount Alexander Shire where quartz holds gold in its veins. Walking this zen garden invites a contemplation of how migration landscapes speak to those crossing them. It represents the migration landscape shaped by thousands of Guangdong migrants from Robe to the local goldfields who most likely followed trading tracks first created by the people of the Dja Dja Wurrung over millennia. Through the courtyard is an outbuilding where seeds, flora and sounds harbour visions of the Golden Mountain Walk migration landscape. A sensory adventure into the strange and familiar awaits. The outbuilding swells with the scent of woods used for preserving and transporting goods, pomelos abundant with nutrition and symbolizing ongoing life, cinnamon bark, and mulberry fruit… and softly flickers and resonates with shadows shaped by the prodigious crossing.
Saturday 25th March 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm
Interior View culminates in a series of tea ceremonies conducted by Chinese tea mistress Celina Lei, each celebrating one of five elements, followed by a 6pm aperitif combining Australian botanicals with Chinese herbs and spices.
Saturday 25th March 6pm
With an aperitif,join in the conversation with Charles Zhang, who walked from Robe to Central Victoria in 2013 and Eugenia Lim a Punctum associated contemporary performer both of whom in their singular way, walk in the footsteps of their forbears.
Artists: Jude Anderson, Tanja Beer, Tara Gilbee, Celina Lei, Jacques Soddell, Jennifer Tran and guest Charles Zhang
This project is a collaboration between Punctum Inc, the Chinese Australian Cultural Society of Ballarat. It is assisted by Federation University for Part 1, Castlemaine State Festival for Part 2 and 3, and hosted by the Art Gallery of Ballarat, the Vaughan Springs Reserve Committee and Café re-PUBLIC.
It is supported by the Sidney Myer Fund and by Arts Centre Melbourne through Creative Victoria for Asia TOPA. Asia TOPA is a joint initiative of the Sidney Myer Fund and Arts Centre Melbourne and is supported by the Australian and Victorian Governments.