BUSHLAND PINK – 11 th July 2020

‘Occupy the Fence’ was a one day event organised by Dirt Witch Lara Merrett protesting against the impending destruction through development of a critical piece of bushland on the South Coast of NSW. Part of the ongoing ‘Manyana Matters’ campaign, artworks were fixed to the temporary cyclone fence surrounding the bush home of many native plant and animal species including the endangered ‘Greater Glider’. Sculptures, paintings, performances, many were created on the day with an immediacy and rawness to match the emotions felt by many about the impending demise of animals and habitat.

The bushland around Manyana had all but burnt during the catastrophic January 2020 fires but remarkably one area survived as a critical pocket for habitat. Sadly, this piece of land had been earmarked for development many years prior but now had become a vital refuge.

The campaign was to raise awareness of the urgent need to save this remnant forest. Artists came together using their skills and passion to engender emotion and connection to the bushland loved by so many. ‘Bushland Pink’ created by Dirt Witch artists Caroline Rothwell, Jennifer Turpin and Janet Laurence was one of these temporary artworks. A folded landscape made of carboard painted pink the work echoed the pink tags tied by ecologists to those trees deemed critical habitat in the forest enclosed behind the fence.

Within the nooks and folds of the artful landscape children placed cardboard sculptures of the creatures that lived in the forest. These were made in the moment on the edge of the road in a makeshift workshop run by the artists. Many children contributed, animating the sculpture as a poignant symbol of what was at stake if the destructive development went ahead.