Burnt into Memory
7 June - 17 August 2025
Opening Night: Friday 6 June, 6-8pm

Artists:  Sarah Allely and Bill Code, Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler, Katherine Boland, Penelope Caine, Anna Glynn, Jody Graham, Freya Jobbins, Laura Jones, Gary Shinfield, Leanne Tobin, Leanne Watson, Julie Williams, Freedom Wilson

In the summer of 2019-2020 communities across the entire continent of Australia experienced some of the worst bushfires in recent living memory. Known as the Black Summer Bushfires, the impact of these collective ‘fire events’ was catastrophic on individuals and communities a like. The Hawkesbury tragically the impact point for what is now known as the largest bushfire in Australia’s recorded history. The Gospers Mountain fire, burning from Hawkesbury to Lithgow, the Hunter Valley, Lower Hunter, Cudgegong, Blue Mountains and to Central Coast, covering an area of 126 000 000 acres.

The smoke had barely cleared from our Black Summer, when the Hawkesbury Community like everywhere else was hit by a world-wide pandemic, which was followed by a succession of devastating floods. However, as we move individually and collectively forward and the time between us and those events grows more distant there is now the opportunity to pause, consider and reflect. Far from straightforward though, these experiences, these responses are complex;  the affects and the trauma are ongoing, barely kept below the surface, awakened with the arrival of each new fire season; the smell and haze of a hazard reduction, the notification of a grass fire.

Burnt into Memory will explore the complex ways these events impacted so many individuals and communities. Through the various creative expression artists will explore concepts including the personal experience of the fire events, community trauma and resilience, the politicisation of climate science, caring for Country and celebrating the extraordinary natural environments which we inhabit. Significantly the exhibition will focus on a framework of reflection, healing, resilience and forward momentum.

This project has been supported by the Australian Government through the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grant Program.