All living things – from the most microscopic of organisms to the Earth itself – have a compelling need to exist in a state of balance or equilibrium. When that balance is disturbed, instinct dictates that all possible effort must be made to restore it. Sometimes, the organism is successful – a state of harmony is re-established, and life moves on.
But sometimes, the assault is too great. Sometimes, despite heroic endeavour, an organism is left permanently damaged – diminished in vigour and prone to further devastation.
Sometimes, the organism does not survive.
The images displayed in Isla Macgregor’s new exhibition, Entropy 1, are a visual expose of mining’s assault on the natural balance of the environment. In particular, the environment of Tasmania’s West Coast.
Ms MacGregor’s images – as was her intention – are a telling contrast to the picture postcard Tasmanian eye candy we are accustomed to seeing on public display. They are equally captivating, with gorgeous colours and textures, but closer inspection reveals the inexorable ruination of the environment that began many decades ago in our state’s far flung mines.
The rust is everywhere – making lacy patterns in the abandoned apparatus of mining, and colouring the waterways a murky, unnatural shade of ochre.
Many are familiar with the arid ‘moonscape’ surrounding the West Coast mining region of Queenstown, and for most it is no more than an historic curiosity – a minor blip in an otherwise pristine environment.
Ms MacGregor’s exhibition gets up close to the decaying remnants of mining in Queenstown and Zeehan, and shows us the magnitude and aggression of the enemy our environment faced in this arena. It shows how valiantly the environment must have fought to restore itself to equilibrium – how it is still fighting to save itself.
Entropy is described as a disordered state, and Ms MacGregor’s exhibition is well named. The disorder and disharmony shown in her authentic, unadorned work are a timely reminder to us all that we cannot take the continued health of our environment for granted.
Complementing the visual element of the exhibition is a selection of Tasmanian historical texts and records, where acknowledgement of mining’s impact on the island state’s environment is also disturbingly absent.
Tasmania might be ‘clean and green’, but the shiny veneer sometimes hides a grubby, tarnished underbelly. Rather than avert her gaze, Ms MacGregor has used her lens to bravely expose this uncomfortable reality.
Bronwyn Williams
