Louise Kate Anderson: 30 years of life as if I were a tree
Louise Kate Anderson: 30 years of life as if I were a tree
Offset lithographic prints on Fabriano Rosapina
2018
Full sized print measures 700 x 965mm, limited edition of 12, signed and numbered by the artist.
Alternatively, the print is also available as a smaller double-sided piece measuring 500 x 700mm: the tree cross-section image on the front, and the "key" on the back, limited edition of 8, signed and numbered by the artist.
Produced and exhibited as part of the John Demos Memorial Residency 2018, '30 years of life as if I were a tree' by Louise Kate Anderson is an experimental mapping project exploring the documentation of the artists’ own life by drawing metaphors between various life events and dendochronology – the scientific method of analysing growth rings in tree cross sections in order to determine the age of a tree, and a variety of atmospheric conditions and physical events associated with its location.
Most people document their lives in some form, whether it be a diary, social media, or photographs of people and time changing. Instigated by a shared mission with Colin Hambrook to foster creative pathways for people with disability and raise awareness of trauma and mental illness, Louise went in search of old prose, poetry and photographs documenting her lived experience of disability. This foray into the past got her wondering about the so-called ‘examined life’ or in this case, the documented life. Can any such documentation ever truly be authentic or honest, given we constantly pander to what we are communicating to our perceived ‘audience’, even if that is only our future selves?
—-
The John Demos Memorial Residency has been has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body, specifically through the Artists with Disability funding program 2016-2018.
