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 In a new exhibition, artist Michelle Collocott confronts the realities of climate change.
In an era dominated by political discourse finally raising awareness of the risks of global warming, local artist Michelle Collocott is tracing the drama of climate change in her solo exhibition at Wilson Street Gallery – Three Ponds Series C.
“I think a lot of people just aren’t conscious of it,” Michelle tells SX. “Most of the population live on the coast. My greatest sense of companionship comes from farmers – I feel I can relate to what most of Australia is like. It’s dry, it’s barren, it’s unpredictable and it succumbs to extremes.
“As for how people are treating climate change now, I can only say that I could have told you that 20 years ago – just by looking. My sense of connection with climate has really come out of my embedded experience.”
That embedded experience was forged as a child growing up at Warragamba Dam after her birth in 1945, and later at the studio she established near Oberon in the 1970s and 1980s. From an early age Collocott recorded the environment and the seasons in a lifelong quest for place and connection. Indeed, Three Ponds Series C is the culmination of a long artistic journey.
“I’ve always felt a strong need to identify my sense of place,” she says. “Whatever has happened to me, I’ve always been able to re-establish a comfort zone – and that has been a spatial thing.”
In 1986 Collocott relocated to Sydney, establishing a home, studio and window gallery on Abercrombie Street in Darlington – now an instantly recognisable landmark. But change is afoot for her.
“My sense of place here has diminished,” she muses. “I don’t know the people anymore – I’m too old. They don’t see me. What I really need now is change.”
But Collocott is certainly not forgotten by the people that count. She has been called an ‘artist’s artist’, and her art has remained timeless ever since her early exhibitions at Bonython’s and Gallery A. She has always worked in layers and employed distinctive bright colours and sinuous lines to map her images into geographical-like spaces.
Collocott is also a storyteller, and geography is part of her subject matter. “My work often moves away from being landscapes into being cerebral puzzles – a jigsaw you can look into,” she says.
Collocott, formerly Martin Collocott, has worked tirelessly in the gay community throughout her life. “Being part of a marginalised group, I had to work bloody hard. I see girls in their 20s holding hands in Newtown, and I think how easy it is today.”
Michelle Collocott’s Three Ponds Series C is on show at Wilson Street Gallery (30-34 Wilson Street, Newtown – just off King Street and Erskineville Road) until August 10.
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Art and climate collide
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