The entanglement of storm, fire, flood, chaos, grief and hope 2025

Triptych 2.8m wide x 1.5m high

 

Earth pigments from Mount Dandenong, charcoal from Montrose, oil pastel frottage, watercolour, gouache and acrylic on Japanese kozo (mulberry) paper

 

This is one of 25000 trees that fell in the Dandenong Ranges during the 2021 storm that still haunts my community. I think of the chainsaws that made those marks and the families still not back in their homes. I feel privileged to see these giants up close, and find the dying leaves that drip like golden jewellery oddly beautiful.

 

It’s hard to make sense of so many overlapping disasters, of the millions of fish floating lifeless in ash filled waterways, and suburban reserves on fire like Montrose earlier this year at the foot of our mountain, while the climate change debate infuriatingly revolves around what people ‘believe’. 

 

But I believe in hope - in the dedication of climate scientists, the regenerative work of ecologists salvaging seeds, the Indigenous rangers teaching us about cool burns, and I believe in the awe-inspiring volunteers who risk their lives to save ours.

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Visit Emma Jennings Gallery to see the original, or buy a print online here!