D. Harding 'The Soils Project'
Kia ora,
a recent short artists report I made for a course I am participating in.
14/07/2025
D Harding, Artist
Descendant of the Bidjara, Ghungalu and Garingbal peoples of Central Queensland and lives in Brisbane, Australia.
Powdered river ochre pigment on accademia paper. The paper is prepared with locally sourced gum acacia onto which the powdered pigment is applied and allowed to dry. The works are folded and compressed for shipping. On installation, the pieces are unfolded and loosely hung. The pigment surface is reconstituted with water and some of this pigment is applied to the gallery windows or skylight casting a yellowed light.
D Harding asks many questions.
Through which lens do we look?
Can we shift from our learned view?
Can we see from the view of the material with all its accumulated history?
As artists how do we bring a sensitivity to the use of materials from landscape?
Both ecological and cultural.
In the realm of eco-art practice, D Harding asks this question.
How do we define aliveness?
Do our ideas of alive forms extend to inanimate materials such as yellow ochre pigments? Many cosmologies understand that each material has a resource of aliveness.
Here in Aotearoa it is referred to as "Mauri", the essence of material.
A quantum theorist might call it an energy field that gains physical solidity as we engage with it.
D. Harding asks many questions.
14/07/2025
Parapara
Sources:
'Mauri'
1. (noun) life principle, life force, vital essence, special nature, a material symbol of a life principle, source of emotions - the essential quality and vitality of a being or entity. Also used for a physical object, individual, ecosystem or social group in which this essence is located.
https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=mauri
"Agnes Denes'in Hayatı ve Sanatı Üzerine" / "On Agnes Denes's Life and Art" - Emma Enderby
https://www.youtube.com/live/639hMkxR1mI?si=gcm65nRZdw6gafGS