Blotched with a green lichen | 2022

Original artwork by Sharon Field 

Blotched with a green lichen, watercolour, graphite and gouache, 12cm x 9.3cm (image), 2022. Framed size: 33.5cm x 33.5cm, black mat and black frame.

Lichens and fungi and mosses are so fundamental to our existence, yet we know so little about them. Some we see regularly, like this lichen. Others we see only rarely, if at all, like this tiny fungi. Each has a job to do. Even though we barely acknowledge their existence, without them, we would not exist. The title of this work has been drawn from the writings of the wonderful Australian Poet, Judith Wright who was known as the 'the conscience of the nation' for her commitment to the environment and Aboriginal land rights. Her aesthetic centres on the relationship between people and the environment, which she viewed as the catalyst for the creation of her poetry. I wonder what she would say to us today. SF