Artist: Kate McMillan Work: Locus Deperditus (2011) Partner: Shire of Leonora Location: Leonora, Western Australia
Perth-based artist, Kate McMillan, developed Locus Deperditus during her residency in the northeastern Goldfields town of Leonora. In addition to a range of developmental community arts projects, including workshops at the Leonora Refugee Detention Centre, cultural projects with the local indigenous community and workshops at the Leonora Youth Centre, McMillan established a deep relationship with local historian, Jill Heather, during her time in Leonora. Heather holds an extraordinary understanding of the local landscape and in recent decades has worked to record the histories and whereabouts of lonely 19th-century graves across three surrounding shires.