EMILY TEN RAA

A Dot on the Run 2016 was an exhibition of drawings on paper by Western Australian emerging, mid-career, and established artists. The exhibition acted as a survey of drawing in Western Australia by FORM. FORM is an independent organisation that strives to ‘build a state of creativity’ in Western Australia through exhibitions, projects, festivals, residencies, forums, and community engagement.

At the time I was volunteering at Kanyana Wildlife Centre, and I was learning a lot about native Western Australian fauna. These drawings were the start of an investigation into our multitude of marsupials that are mostly small and nocturnal, often endangered, and therefore hard to spot in the wild. I was feeling frustrated with my unfamiliarity with these species and so began some simple drawings. One of the species I discovered was Wongai Ningaui. It is a tiny, carnivorous marsupial which lives in the arid grasslands of inland Australia including the Pilbara region. A Dot on the Run was to be exhibited in Port Hedland and I wondered if the community there would be familiar with that species. The majority of the species I read about, I had never seen, and some of them I had never heard of.This is also the case for many Western Australian people.

At Kanyana Wildlife Centre, I was grateful to become acquainted with the Boodie/Burrowing Bettong who was a long-lived, long-loved resident there. I was able to see pygmy possums, ring-tailed possums, and to spot the occasional Woylie and Bilby in the breeding quarters. I caught glimpses of the hissing Quoll, and the Quenda.

During the creative process, I stopped drawing and began painting, hence the small body of work. Ultimately, I completed a series of paintings on hand-made wooden objects that would become an exhibition called Animate Objects.