In 2015 the Bicentennial year of the settlement of Bathurst (1815) and the subsequent opening of the eastern interior of Australia to exploration, Nicole followed the early pathways journeyed by european explorers, stopping at significant locations to enact installations in the landscape.
The region as a whole is richly represented in Australian historical collections, from explorers’ journals, to drawings, prints and paintings. The English explorer Thomas Mitchell depicted these regions in his journals of discovery titled, ‘Three expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia, 1835’ from which the title of the project is borrowed.
The placement of the mirror and text is a symbolic of history and perception, an invitation to the viewer to reflect on the numerous historical paradigms that inform our present-day relationship to country.
.”I acknowledge the Wiradjuri, Gundungurra, Ngarigo and Dharug nations who are the traditional custodians of this land on which I have made this work and pay my respects to Elders both past and present” – Nicole Welch