pied midden: issue no.8 : remediate this : karma barnes and imagine the land

Originally published March 10, 2020

not gonna save the world

‘Palette Remediation’ is my shorthand for what I aim to foster with Wild Pigment Project: the remediation of the artist’s palette as it is today. Just as certain plants can be used to remediate soils contaminated by heavy metals, the incorporation of plant and stone pigments can bring healing to palettes composed of petroleum-derived pigments. But while it’s true that directing artists to use materials from the waste stream and to forage for mineral and botanical pigments in their surrounds means a little bit less demand for synthetic petroleum-based art supplies, that’s not where the “palette remediation” analogy is meant to stop. 

 This is not a “plastic straws” sort of situation. Subbing wild pigments — mineral, botanical, and waste-stream-derived — for petroleum-based ones will not save the world. In fact, while backing away from the petroleum-product art supply loop may have distinct perks when it comes to our health, and the health of some other beings, the significant remediation that’s happening is something else. What’s really being remediated is loneliness. Or, more specifically, isolation — from each other and from other beings. Bending down to pick up a rock and wondering how it might be transformed into usable paint instantly sparks three relationships that didn’t previously exist: between you and the rock, you and the land the rock sits on, and you and other people who make paint from rocks. That these three new relationships have the potential to be reciprocal — what can you bring to the land? what can you learn from others? what will you offer? — is a further remediation, away from the isolation of the cult of genius fueled by the capitalist art market, and away from the fear that acts as a wall to separate us from people we don’t trust or believe are good.

 People are good. There — I’ve said it. The community of ‘pigment people,’ as I’ve come to think of us, that I’ve found through Wild Pigment Project has transformed my sense of what’s possible in the world. As an artist living on a very modest budget, giving money to causes I believed in was a luxury I dreamed of but rarely accessed. Exactly a year ago, I would never have thought it possible that in the year that followed, I’d be able to direct more than $1,000.00 to land stewardship organizations all over the globe (as of last month, it’s been $1,241.67, to be exact).

 My mom grew up in Australia, and as a kid traveling to visit my grandparents, I fell head-over-heels in love with marsupials. By age four, I had selected my career of choice: I wanted to be a painter and a director of a sanctuary for Australian animals. During the recent awful, destructive fires, profound grief and a desire to act prompted me to reach out to a number of pigment practitioners in Australia to see if we could offer some small measure of support to the land. Several people responded immediately. This month, artist Karma Barnes is a contributor, bringing us pigment she gathered and processed working closely with Arakwal custodian Delta Kay. 

The ochre pigment, called Mullumbimby Pink (pictured above, and below in Karma's piece, What Lies Beneath), is made up of ancient sediments that were super-heated by lava flows about 25 million years ago in what is now called Mullumbimby. Mullumbimby is part of the Bundjalung Nation, a large Aboriginal nation made up of several groups that are the original custodians of the northern coast of what is known by some as New South Wales. Subscribers to Ground Bright will receive Mullumbimby Pink in their mailboxes this month, along with more information about the pigment. If you sign up by march 11th (that’s this wednesday!) that could be you, too.

stepping together into the paintings

  Earth pigments are a focal point for community environmental installation projects led by New Zealand artists Karma Barnes and her collaborator Ekarasa Doblanovic. Their most recent piece, Tocca la terra was made entirely of Italian local soils, which they hand-gathered from the regional landscapes of Rome and Tuscany. After grinding the soils into fine pigments and creating concentric borders on the floor of the gallery in pink marble dust, purple manganese, yellow ochres, red clay, and deep brown topsoil, the artists invited visitors to the gallery to create small clay vessels, cover them in pigments, and walk barefoot through the floor installation to place their vessels somewhere in the concentric pigment bands. 

 “I absolutely love working on large-scale projects, and engaging people and communities. I find participatory art process extremely motivating and enjoy creating processes for all ranges of people to work together,” says Karma.

 In a video of one of the team’s community-produced installations, children under the age of four walk carefully with spoonfuls of pigment which they pour gently onto the edges of gradually forming concentric circles at their feet. It was a moment like this which first inspired Karma to make art that involved whole communities.

“I had started creating installation artworks in my last year of BA of Arts, and Ekarasa and I first worked together to lead a collaborative piece as part of an exhibition at the Wellington Fringe Festival of the Arts in New Zealand in 2009. During the show, a girl came along and wanted to start working on the installation. She focused straight for over an hour! At that moment, I became more interested in people experiencing art through participation rather than merely being ‘viewers.’”

“I love the deep connections that people feel when working with local pigments. It brings up peoples’ memories and personal stories of the land. I learn a lot about the pigments through my projects, from people sharing their personal knowledge,” Karma explains.

In 2010, Karma and Ekarasa founded the Imagine the Land Project. An important part of their practice is to connect with local Indigenous communities in the places where they create work. This begins with relationship-building by seeking to understand the land and its materiality while gradually developing large scale community collaborations and close friendships.  

“It’s been a huge honor, while living here in Australia, to be invited to collaborate on projects such as NAIDOC Day (National Aboriginal and Islanders Observance Committee) and the Kinship Festival.” says Karma.

Karma and Ekarasa always gather materials from “predisturbed” sites — often roundabouts, building sites and terrains that have had human interventions. I asked Karma to describe the pigments in these places.

“Natural processes of erosion on these disturbed sites often reveal unweathered subsoils, with little to no organic matter, and fairly clean uniform colors. I’m always amazed by how these deeper soils change colors over such short distances. I’ve come to learn that this is the different layering of soil strata and extraordinary stories of land creation over millennia.”

When their installations are complete, and after the viewing time has passed, they look for good places to relocate the soil, taking care to avoid areas where loose soil could be washed into waterways. Garden beds are a favorite relocation spot.

Karma is directing the 22% of this month’s Ground Bright proceeds to Firesticks Alliance Network, an Indigenous-led organization that promotes cultural controlled burning for the health of the land, or ‘Country,” as it’s called (pictured above, from the Firesticks website: the late Kuku Thaypan Elders, Dr. George and Dr. Musgrove, who initiated a fire research project in 2004). Controlled burning is an ancient practice that results in vibrantly healthy forests with big trees and little underbrush — Country as it was when European colonists arrived and fought the practice of controlled burning. The recent bush fires, and the unfathomable death of one billion animals, are the probable result of the absence of controlled burning. 

I asked Karma to explain a little about the Aboriginal term ‘Country.”

“My understanding is that the term Country includes all living beings. It incorporates people, plants and animals and the relationships between these beings through the changing seasons. The cultural knowledge of these rhythms and patterns of change are incredibly sensitive and attuned to different landscape contexts, and maintained by stories woven into the landscape. Country is really about co-creation: humans and cultural practice are not outside of nature. There is no division between people and wilderness, or self and other in the concept of Country. 

For more info on the history of controlled burning in Australia, Karma recommends the book, “The Biggest Estate on Earth,” by Bill Gamma. 

Thank you, Karma, for helping direct funds to support Country during this tough time, and thank you to everyone at Firesticks for the powerful and transformative work you’re doing!

all pigments, all the time

A very, very exciting event is in the early stages of preparation: the first-ever PIGMENT SYMPOSIUM in the United States! Planned for June 16th through 19th, in Bellingham, WA, the Pigments Revealed Symposium is the long-time vision of artist-researcher Melonie Ancheta, who recently published the ground-breaking article, Revealing Blue, about the pigment vivianite, and its use by PNWC Native artists. 

Melonie writes:

“The focus of this event is entirely on natural pigments, no synthetics, no dyes and no industrials. This will be the first gathering focused on just pigments in the US and we hope to make it a biannual event.The audience and participants for this symposium are international and come from all pigment backgrounds. We have artists, scientists, researchers, curators, conservators, chemists, geologists, and the list goes on; there is someone from just about every discipline out there. 

There will be speaker sessions, seminars, demonstrations, panels, round table discussions and Q & A's. Also, there is a juried art exhibit (only natural pigments), workshops and 3-4 vendors. On the 20th there will be a special foraging workshop lead by ochre expert, Heidi Gustafson. 

The main objective for this gathering is to create a forum where we can share knowledge and expertise, learn from one another, look at ways to promote natural pigment research and education, and the continued sharing of information.

Please follow this link to our query of interest and fill it out.

Because there are new laws in place that prevent us from sending more information, updates and calls for abstracts, posters and artwork without your permission, it is important to fill out the query.  We will use the information from your query response to send you updates, more information and calls. Your information will be used only in relation to this symposium; it will not be shared or sold.  

Pigments Revealed Symposium 2021 provides a safe, welcoming and friendly event. If you are from a country on which our "president" has placed travel bans, please let us know on the query and we will send information on how to deal with these bans. We will do whatever we can to help you participate in this event.

The symposium venue has been determined as handicap accessible.

For questions please email Melonie at pigmentsrevealed@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!"

(Ohhhhhh boy, so looking forward to June 2021!! If you plan to go, plan to see me there!)

Thank you all for reading! As always, your feedback brings me great cheer, so don’t hold back — write to me, Tilke, with comments, feedback or reflections at any time at info@wildpigmentproject.org.

Until Next Time,

Tilke