Mining Galilee

The tiny Bimblebox Nature Refuge lies within the massive Galilee Basin in Central Queensland. Mining Galilee peels away residues of history overlaying the economic and emotional conflict between energy resources and natural heritage through the use of archival material and contemporary digital drawing.

The unique Bimblebox art project developed by Jill Sampson and the exhibition curated by Beth Jackson explore the nexus between past and future human impact at the site. The circumstances of the threat of destruction that faces the reserve can be seen as a microcosm of the crisis of climate change that confronts contemporary lives globally. Throwing into stark contrast the tragedy embedded in the comparison of European history in the region with millennia of Aboriginal occupation of the same space.

My concern for the environment is indivisible from my concern for future generations. Most Australians lives are cocooned in comfort but our failure to protect the environment threatens the future security of our children.

Our comfort is inextricably linked to the digging and selling of mineral resources, but the flip side is the crisis of climate change and unsustainable levels of production and waste at the expense of future stability.

Mining Galilee layers European presence of a different primarily agricultural age and comparatively small scale intervention in the Bimblebox region. These white “pioneers” never imagined such massively scaled landscape and ecological destruction facing the region.

Artist Statement Bimblebox Art Project 2014

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Alpha 1, 2013 Inkjet print on 180gsm archival paper 53 x 42cm

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Jericho, 2013 Inkjet print, 62 x 46 cm.

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Alpha, 2013 Inkjet print, 64 x 46 cm.

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Tambo, 2013 Inkjet print, 46 x 62 cm.

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Blackwater, 2013 Inkjet print, 62 x 46 cm.

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Clermont, 2013 Inkjet print, 63 x 46 cm.

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Aramac, 2013 Inkjet print, 63 x 46 cm.

Fiona MacDonald, Artist. Australia.

Mining Kevin’s Corner, 2013 Inkjet print, 64 x 46 cm.