Rural Utopias Residency: Georgie Mattingley in Karlkula / Kalgoorlie-Boulder #1, ‘How I met the Super Pit’

Georgie Mattingley is currently working with the community of Karlkula / Kalgoorlie-Boulder. This residency forms part of one of Spaced’s current programs, Rural Utopias.

Georgie Mattingley is a visual artist based in Mparntwe-Alice Springs, Australia, making photographs, paintings, videos and public installations. Her work uses colour and beauty and to make society’s hidden spaces more visible.

Here, Georgie shares the first update from Karlkula / Kalgoorlie - Boulder, ‘How I met the Super Pit’

My residency adventure begins with a 3 day drive through across the Great Central Desert Highway. I left my home in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) and I passed through Uluru, Kaltukatjara, Warrakurna and Warburton. I passed some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the country. Tjoritja (the MacDonell Ranges) is totemic, sweeping across the horizon like natural scarring in the Earth. Uluru and Kata Tjuta hold an epic spiritual power that has become iconic and draws visitors around the world. Passing through these landscapes feels surreal. Like looking into a famous painting, only it’s real, being framed like a painting by the car windscreen.

As I drive through this long and unwinding bumpy road, the sun starts setting, throwing the most delicious pinks, purples and blues across the sky. I wonder how the TV artist sensation Bob Ross would recreate these landscapes. I’m a big fan of Bob Ross’ paintings, the way he uses wet-on-wet blending techniques to create dream-like utopias.

When I finally pull off the dusty desert highway, I approach the City of Kalgoorlie-Bloulder from a distance. A landscape that is just as beautiful as every sight I have passed on my desert drive. Dramatic mounds of rubble from the Superpit Gold Mine look like layered mountain ranges on the horizon. It’s uncanny how much it looks like Uluru from a distance.

This Super Pit is a beautiful landscape; a Rural Utopia. Especially during a dramatic sunset.

The journey begins. NT/WA Border. (Image: Georgie Mattingley)

Explore our current programs

Know Thy Neighbour #3 (2021-23). Know Thy Neighbour #3 investigates notions of place, sites of interest, networks, and social relationships with partner communities.

Rural Utopias (2019-23). Rural Utopias is a program of residencies, exhibitions and professional development activities organised in partnership with 12 Western Australian rural and remote towns.