Shane Fitzgerald • Incendiary II 2018

Australia’s First Nations peoples have long understood the complex and dichotomous relationship of fire in the Australian lexicon. For over 50,000 years Indigenous people have incorporated fire in their land management practices, preceding western traditions. This demonstrates a sophisticated connection with Country that recognises the role that fire plays in the environment and the release of nutrients into Australia’s woodland. For Indigenous peoples fire was also a centrepiece in the Dreaming stories of creation and the spiritual, natural and moral order of the cosmos. Dreamings of fire variously combine the cursed and the blessed, the deceitful and the faithful, and the destructive and the redemptive. It is the dichotomous qualities between the destructive and the redemptive which have informed my artwork concept. Incendiary II represents an origin story, depicting a scattering of islands (Torres Strait) within a sea of fire. A maelstrom of flames which emanate outwards from these islands symbolise catalysts, or agents, of change. Fire can be a terrifyingly destructive force that can sweep through the landscape transforming and resetting the natural (or unnatural) order (terra nullius), whilst concurrently providing the catalyst and platform for renewal and rebirth. These are powerful attributes which, not surprisingly, have permeated beyond the physical in human consciousness and are often aligned to events or circumstances which have resulted in change, cleansing, rebirth and redemption. The Mabo decision reflects not only the legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo – the man, the activist, the change agent – but also the redemption and cleansing of the world’s oldest continuous culture which was marred by the loss of Country. The fires of change still burn… they were seeded in the islands of the Torres Strait and the tropical north…

····· Shane Fitzgerald is an artist and arts worker based in Victoria. A highly collected artist, Fitzgerald is a sought after arts professional in his own right, formerly Director of the Rockhampton Regional Gallery and Perc Tucker Regional Gallery.