Red and White Poncho

Barrier Ribbon Cape on Dave

Viral Plastic Safety Fencing

Suburbia

“Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.” BILL VAUGHAN

Knox City - 'Parking' Project Prototype

Boronia, the suburb name and railway station, made me begin to consider at the Knox site the naturally occurring vegetation that had been removed for the development.

As Knox was the first American style car suburb in Melbourne, I wondered what might be under the car park asphalt – what used to be there. This was prompted by a story I was told about the resilience of nature when I was living in the Blue Mountains. A fifty years old garden shed was being demolished. The concrete slab was removed and a few weeks later the seeds of local wildflowers that had lain dormant in the soil germinated.

I researched plants indigenous to the Knox area. I came across online an inventory of indigenous plant species extracted from the document ‘Sites of Biological Significance in Knox’ drafted in 2004 by Dr G. Lorimer. The document categorised theenvironmental status of plants in the Knox area. i.e.) ‘X’ presumed extinct; ‘C’ Critically endangered; ‘E’ Endangered; ‘V’ Vulnerable; ‘R’ Rare; ‘K’ Suspected to be rare or threatened; ‘S’ Secure but not abundant or common; ‘L’ Least concern. There was in fact a Knox City project through the 1990’s that involved re-establishing habitat for the endangered Sword-Grass Brown Butterfly by planting its favoured fruit Red-Fruit Saw-Sedge..

Plants such as the Heart Lip Spider Orchid were deemed extinct. The Grey Everlasting (Ozothamnus obcordatus) was critically endangered with one plant existing in Boronia. The Silver Banksia (Banksia marginata) was vulnerable as was the Hairy Speedwell (Veronica calycina). The Tender Brake (Pteris tremula) was rare. This is only a small sample from the list.

During research for images of these plants, I located a botanical illustration of a Banksia marginata dated 1843 tentatively attributed to Samuel Curtis.

'Parking'

I propose to reinstate nature in the car park and reclaim the public space currently dominated by cars. I will install car covers over the cars. The covers at Knox would have large-scale drawings cut through the cover material. The drawing at Knox would focus on at risk indigenous species. Utilising a pre-existing product reduces costs and due to its protective function that is cancelled out through cutting, it brings into play levels of questioning such as what needs to be protected. Being installed over cars at shopping centres it also raises issues surrounding consumption of goods and fossil fuels,

This concept could form the prototype of a much larger guerrilla installation of covered cars. This could occur at other large scale shopping destinations such as Highpoint and Chadstone. Artists would be invited to participate in a large-scale public artwork, where each would be involved in producing an individual creative response that would comprise part of a larger scale collaborative work.

Tree Intervention - what I don't like about public space!

This little Orr Street tree has been buffeted by the comings and goings from the construction site across the road all year. I think a version of RSPCA for plants might be a good idea. My intervention, a 'tree bumper' made from recyled materials hopefully brings attention in a small way to how nature is mistreated in an urban setting, in particular how cars dominate the environment.

Laneway 2009 Proposal Site Analysis - Guests Lane

Amanda Coulson and I came across Guests Lane and we were struck by the modernist architecture, crossways between buildings and the orphan rectangle of green space in a central 'T' section of the Laneway.

Guests Lane led to considerations of ‘guests’ as a subject and then to introduced species. Research located historical documents on Acclimatisation Societies held at the State Library. The laneway is named after an early biscuit manufacturer. It is a Class 3 Lane, used by a café, office workers, for meals, smoking, parking motorbikes, service and access, infrequent pedestrians. One building has been vacant for 20 years.