Walking Light
- Holly Grace

“As I walk along a well-worn track carved by heavy machinery with 4WD tread marks, I know where it leads and how far and long my journey will be. I am safe and secure in a place that is foreign to me but one that I am hoping to get to know.

As the journey continues I see that my track has many small interceptions, lightly marked animal trails formed by swamp wallabies, wombats and Eastern grey kangaroos. Nature’s pathways leading into a vast open landscape both empty and full. Empty of life’s everyday distractions but full of space to breathe and the sublime wonders of our unique, light-filled landscape.

So with trepidation and joy I step off track and into the unknown, with a lighter step I ascend a trail crafted by nature on a journey of discovery both ancient and new.” 

My artwork begins in nature, a traverse into the remote regions of the Australian outback. This time alone within the landscape is an invaluable experience, sometimes challenging but immensely inspirational as I learn more about the natural world and about myself. My experiences are documented initially with the camera but further explored with glass as my canvas – becoming both a lens and a personal record of our unique environment.

This exhibition is a memoir of places within the Australian Highlands. It is an intimate record created from a recent four-week Craft ACT 2023 artist residency at National Portrait Gallery and Gudgenby ready-cut Cottage in the Namadgi National Park. Combined with recent explorations of the fire regeneration at Northern Kosciuszko National Park and remote sections of the Victorian Highlands affected by the 2020 black summer of fires.

Through research of the past and the present I seek to create a cultural narrative that weaves together humanity and nature, history and natural history. It is both a portrait of a place and self-portrait, a journey of discovery and walking light in an increasingly fragile environment.

– Holly Grace, 2024

The artist acknowledges
Canberra Glassworks
Tom Rowney and Annette Blair