mullumbimby pink : march ‘20
Mullumbimby Pink was gathered from a roadside cut in Mullumbimby, Australia by artist Karma Barnes, through the Imagine the Land Project, a collaborative project with artist Ekarasa Doblanovic. Karma worked closely with Arakwal custodian Delta Kay in the gathering and processing of this pigment.
The landscape where the pigment was gathered has been described as an ancient basin of the supercontinent Gondwana, and formed around 250 million years ago. The soil was formed through sedimentation and deposits over millennia, and geological forces and continental shifts altered the layering patterns within this basin. About 25 million years ago, a large volcano formed nearby and spilled lava over this basin, 'cooking' the sediments under heat and pressure of different lava flows to form these metamorphic rocks and soils just below the old lava layers. The pigment comes from this process. This Lava eroded over time and revealed the altered basin in mid to low lying areas around Mullumbimby today. The central core of the ancient volcano still exists and is known as Wollumbin, Cloud Catcher, a distinctively shaped peak and surrounding mountainous caldera.
Mullumbimby is part of the Bundjalung nation. The Bundjalung are a large Aboriginal nation (made up of groups of clans) that are the original custodians of the northern coastal area of New South Wales. They are one of over 500 Aboriginal tribes that co-habited Australia before European occupation. The name "Mullumbimby- mulubinba," means "small round hill" and is derived from the Badjalung-Yugambeh dialect. Orches have been used in Australia to tell stories in a visual format for over 65,000 years. Traditional binders used have included tree resin, bush honey, egg yolks & kangaroo blood.
contributor : karma barnes
Karma Barnes is a New Zealand born artist and art therapist living on the east coast of NSW, Australia. Her creative practice encompasses large-scale installation and participatory practices through the Imagine the Land Project which she co-directs with Ekarasa Doblanovic. Imagine the Land has been exploring site-specific art projects from pigments, soils, clays for the last 10 years in works across Australasia and internationally. The project's methodology is to cultivate relationships between people, art and nature. Imagine the Land to date has engaged over 10,000 people in collaborative soil and pigment-based works. Most recently the collaboration produced an 18-meter long Italian soil pigment installation in The Contemporary Art Gallery of Rome.
Photo courtesy of Karma Barnes
Photo from the Firesticks Alliance website www.firesticks.org.au
22% donation recipient : Firesticks Alliance Network
This month, 22% of Ground Bright net profits go to Firesticks Alliance Indigenous Corporation, an Indigenous-led network which aims to re-invigorate the use of cultural burning by facilitating cultural learning pathways to fire and land management. It is an initiative for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to look after Country, share their experiences and collectively explore ways to achieve their goals. www.firesticks.org.au