This Jetty. 2024. More than 60 years ago my grandfather and grandmother built this jetty. It enters the Ovens River in Bundalong, Victoria, at the foot of a house they also built. This place, this home, is sacred to me. I’ve felt alive here in ways I haven’t elsewhere. Each return is ceremonial and precious. Since I can remember, walking the boards under the weeping willow canopy has been a quiet practice of appreciation and reflection. To the left is Snake Island, so named because the lore of my family tells that someone once saw a snake on it. Reflecting on it now, I suspect that story was probably told to keep us kids off the picturesque island that wouldn’t have survived the constant slapping of 30 or so pairs of little wet feet. To the right, another island, not named but equally feared, is home to an annual army of mud wasps. This jetty ventures past both islands out into an opening that overlooks a broad stretch of river that I know like the back of my hand. I’ve slept at the end of this jetty. Skinny-dipped, caught fish, lost sunglasses, seen turtles, learned from cousins how to do bombs, thrown thick grey river mud at those same cousins, all from the end of this jetty. I’ve got drunk with friends and family and laughed and cried at the end of this jetty. I’ve had the clearest view of the Milky Way from the end of this jetty. Seen shooting stars and satellites silently drift among the stars. And recently, for the first time, I took my daughter Fox swimming from this jetty, marking another moment at this place that I will think of when I am old and missing Fox, as she is off making her own memories. This Jetty (Metallic silver/Mustard/Prussian blue) is a gorgeous three-colour acrylic screenprint limited to just five copies. Each layer is hand-pulled across acid-free 300gsm lightly textured archival paper. You can watch a brief video of me making this work here. The image measures 38cm x 28.5cm with a 1cm white border. Each is subtly signed and numbered in pencil. This work is sold unframed and shipped flat-packed, carefully secured in strong recycled boxboard.
