SEEING THE SOUL EXHIBITION
In memory of Sunshine a wild filly brumby, of the Sunshine Mob.
This little ray of Sunshine, was gifted to me by Karen Ferguson, telling me her story of Sunshine and the Sunshine mob. It follows the discourse of natural selection, as it did with Annie, but unlike Annie, she had no human intervention, and thus the discourse becomes more poignant.
The story of Sunshine starts in 2020, when in September of 2020 she was born as part of the Sunshine family (Mob.). This was witnessed by Karen Ferguson, and upon meeting the new bub she took some photographs of Sunshine.
Then eventually one day upon seeing the Sunshine mob, little Sunshine was not with them, and noting that they grazed nowhere near the traps it was understood, she met her end due to the tough environment touching on the natural selection. Little foals have a lot to contend with in the wild, right from birth. Even their own instinct to get up as soon as they are born, due to the ancestral instinct of being a vulnerable prey, as the smell of the placenta would attract many scavengers. Then of course so many other factors as we know that the ‘wildernesses’ of things, is not a walk in the park.
This was a special gift as not only does the story relay how unfair at times nature is but also why she has a natural selection, as this keeps numbers down naturally. There is a lot about horses that are so unique as we also know now how they easily spontaneously abort at the sight of danger, and so many other reasons that makes one understand how far removed we really are from nature herself and how little we really know ourselves on how she works.
These beautiful sentients’ are unfortunately affected by our human condition and all that are ‘Prometheus’ citadels dish out. More than words can say today.
Sunshine was obviously mourned not only by her family but by Karen herself. When Karen gifted this story to me, she had just witnessed the reverse coin of still 'natural selection, for once again, in July 2022, the Sunshine mob welcomed another foal to their family. Sunshine was gone, but Smokey her brother, joined the mob two years after her passing, and little Smokey is still with us today. Let us hope that he fairs a better chance. A million to one chance of surviving to a full life as a Stallion of KNP.
As fires, storms and Covid 19 hit the Aussie shores in 2019, 2020, the familiar of everyday life was visited by the unfamiliar and questions regarding the human condition towards nature were discovered. Relating the layers of life not only through paint but through familiar scenes that uncover the 'unfamiliar' underneath, once you relate the experience of life in the works and tell a story of what is behind. Things are not always what they seem. For a smile may hide a pain, as a sea may hide a storm beneath its waves.
In remembering my childhood experiences and relating them to the everyday life I began to remember when I started drawing horses at the age of ten, due to my affinity towards them. I would not draw anything else for a few years. This brought me to the investigation of Prometheus, through my research due to the human condition of property and how our modern society is working against nature, hence Prometheus is revisited in a whole new light.
'The problem with Prometheus' (also the name of my second painting, after ‘The grey divide of the Brumby’) is an investigation on the human condition regarding his mismanagement of nature which is against nature itself, resulting in catastrophic environmental factors and resulting in cruelty towards sentient beings such as Brumbies. Horses belong to the environment and the only thing destroying nature is 'The Human Condition'.
‘The grey divide of the Brumby’ brought this to the forefront as Australia’s unique flora and fauna is used as an argument by the Australian government as brumbies are related as not native to Australia and thus considered not wild horses but feral and in need of eradication, to’ save’ Australia’s natural environment, hence relating the grey divide. The Problem is really related to the ‘Prometheus’ idea as our modern society has caused such problems in relation to wildlife, due to our urbanisation and over population of the world and industrialisation. Thus ‘The grey divide of the brumby’ relates the division between pro brumby groups and environmental groups and brings to the forefront animal rights.
The grey divide is my fist ever brumby painting and also relates the past of the everyday life as fires hit the Aussie shores and after that the brumbies in Kosciuszko National Park in NSW where being trapped. So not only had they suffered and survived a natural devastation but now, had to contend with their eradication from the wild.
Please visit the link below of free the brumbies for details of rehoming and how many brumbies have been saved from slaughter.
