TOPOGRAPHIES OF BELONGING by Annemaree Dalziel 
at the Bowral Old Town Hall 10am-5pm 27 March – 6 April or by appointment 0414 954 977

Opening event Wednesday 27 March from 4 pm to 6 pm
to be opened by Djon Mundine FAHA OAM

Topographies of Belonging is a sensory installation playing with  woven grass sculptures, lines of origami cranes, maps, handwritten texts , photographs, and beautiful handknitted socks. 

Developed and created with artist Jagath Dheeresekara and nine local descendants of displaced Scottish Gaelic people, the installation reflects stories shared by participants on walks in nature with the artists: about family, tragic forgotten histories, and their sense of place today.

‘The Topographies of Belonging installation follows on from my 2022 exhibition Imperial Stockings, at FundaMental in Mittagong. I invited local people to choose an artwork  – one of seven pairs of handknitted history socks – and put them on and then take me for a walk in a place they love,’ Annemaree Dalziel says.

‘The Imperial Stockings project chronicles a story of 150 years of loss and displacement in Highland Scotland, as poorly known and remembered as the stories of 230 years of Indigenous loss and displacement in colonial Australia.

‘I became curious about how grief played out in early Australia, how it might shape Australian identity in some way. So I invited local people to join me, to look at these forgotten histories and see how they might live on in us. Together, could we explore my question What happened to all that grief?’

For the artists, walking in nature is a way to connect to memories that are no longer talked about.

‘This project is walking as research, exploring history from the ground up, discovering archives of feet,’ Dalziel says.

‘The installation also conveys something of our relationships to local places, to our cultural identities, history and community. For me, a descendant of Scottish-Irish and English boat people, making these three relationships right is fundamental to belonging,’ she says.

When asked what motivated her to do this project, Annemaree says: ‘Forgotten histories of trauma haunt the whole world, and unless they are mourned and understood, can reduce our ability to listen to others, to find compassion for one another, and respect for the natural world on which we depend for survival. The installation observes and comments on this and infuses it with hope, a belief that we can find better of ways of living with each other, our histories and the natural worlds.’

Image: Imperial Stockings broadsheet, 2022, created with support from CASP and STA. Photography Ian Hobbs, graphic design Peter Campbell.