Gahnia Goddess

This is a conceptual work dealing with the circle of life forms of the Patterned Fens, a special ecosystem found in Cooloola and on K’gari. A vast interconnected network of wire rush or spreading rope-rush (Empodisma minor) features clumps of tightly woven rushes interpenetrated by fresh water canals. Small openings of water are known as flarks. Above the flat marchlands, the brown waving seed heads of the red-fruited saw-sedge (Gahnia sieberiana) protrude.

Inspired by visits to the patterned fens as part of the Cooloola Bioblitzes, this work symbolizes the intricate ecosystem of the patterned fens, culminating in the seed heads of the saw-sedge (Gahnia sieberiana), which contained small red seeds which Aboriginal people ground into a kind of flour or meal. The blue pool bottom centre represents the flark, while around it twine the tough fibres of the wire rush, encircled by the floating clumps. then the birds emerging from the protection of the fenlands. 

Currently exhibited at Cooloola Art Gallery, Tin Can Bay as of March 2025.