Elizabeth Pedler is currently working with the community of Wellstead. This work forms part of one of Spaced’s current programs, Rural Utopias.

An artist interested in the range of participation possible in art, Elizabeth's practice spans from playful and interactive installations to collaborative relational aesthetics. Identity, food, and community involvement are areas of particular focus, and have led to significant artistic development in her recent arts practice, engaging with audiences through the sharing of experiences and storytelling.

Here, Elizabeth shares an update from Wellstead.

This week in Wellstead I spent my time mostly indoors – reviewing, editing, going through pieces of what I had seen, conversations I’d recorded, to begin stitching together what I will share with the community at the end of the residency.

I was alone in the Nissen Hut again. Pip and the rest of the visitors had departed, and Kerry had gone back up to her farm in Mullalyup, so the farm was a quieter place. I spent long bouts of time diving deep into conversations that occurred days and weeks ago, some many months old. On Monday, as Richard was getting some help outside fixing up the hut exterior, I realised that at the same time that I was overhearing Richard and Frank chat about a broken pipe outside, I was also listening to a conversation I’d had with him twelve months ago, over dinner. Listening back, listening to myself asking questions, rapidly becomes a surreal experience as the recordings point out mis-rememberings of recalled moments.

Though focused on editing, I’ve still been going out and making recordings, capturing video and audio. On Friday last week, as I was standing on a neighbour’s rooftop while the sun set, overlooking the fields of stubble and sheep in every direction between mountains and the ocean, I realised that I could locate the places I’d been, the people and farms I’d visited. On Wednesday, in the shadow of the Stirling Ranges, I saw the burned stumps where the fire had gone through over Christmas. Three wedge tailed eagles circled above, inspecting us, and I was able to imagine the view from above. I know it’s an incomplete map of this place, but I’m starting to piece things together.

On Thursday night after it got dark, Richard and I took a projector outside, carting it between sheds and dragging an extension cord behind us to see how the light falls on different buildings. Seeing a flock of sheep painted onto a corrugated tin roof, or eucalyptus flowers blooming across the cavernous interior of a shed, we could see what this might become. Friday was a journey back up to Perth, where I’ll be for seven days before the last week of the residency, but the images have stayed with me. I spend my time listening to these farmers talk about water and grain, and watching galahs take flight across dry fields.

-Elizabeth Pedler