This season marks our second collaboration with Wendy McDonald, an artist whose practice is deeply shaped by the floodplains of the Murray River on Barapa Barapa Country, where she lives and works. Earlier this year, our founder Emily was invited to spend a weekend with Wendy at Thule Lagoon. Walking the land together, along waterlines, watching for night herons, and speaking about flood cycles and dry spells brought a deeper understanding of the place that underpins Wendy’s work.

Since our first collaboration in 2020, Wendy has continued her “deep dive into painting landscape, considering ecosystems and stories of place.” Her practice is layered with research, reading and conversations with local land carers, shaped by both scientific insight and lived experience. In an ephemeral inland delta, everything exists in delicate balance.

For this collaboration, we have featured two works from Wendy’s 2024 exhibition Stars, Night Herons and the Politics of Envy. Translated into clothing and accessories, these pieces allow the story of the lagoon to travel beyond its shores. Read on to hear more about these works and how Wendy's work as evolved since we last collaborated.

Since our first collaboration I have been continuing my deep dive into painting landscape, considering ecosystems and stories of place. I was very fortunate to win the Defiance Gallery/Nock Foundation Award in the 2022 Paddington Art Prize which allowed me to spend 3 ½ weeks working in Queenstown in 2024. It was challenging to work in a completely new landscape and I realised that without insight into local environments and ecosystems I felt lost and couldn’t comfortably work. Once I had spent time with some local landcare networks (shout out to Arrowtown Choppers), I could understand a little of where I was and the work flowed. Behind my work is a lot of reading, thinking and questioning.  

We are currently in a dry cycle of our ephemeral inland delta, following the floods in 2022. I am working on a new body of work to be shown at Boom Gallery in July 2026 with the focus on water. Even the dry periods water (or its absence) shapes our existence and the echoes of past floods can be read in the subtleties of the landscape. These landscapes need dry periods to remain healthy. I am just hoping that it will not be too long before the next flood as everything exists in such a complex balance.   

It is a deeply personal thing to share our home, work and stories with other people, however I derive an immense satisfaction from doing so. I strongly believe that for people to experience the stories of landscape heightens emotional connection and that this emotional energy is translated into artworks created. I believe in reciprocity and that good things will come for our important inland delta landscapes when individuals are given the opportunity to immerse themselves in our place and its story. Find out more about Wendy's Art Camps here.

These pieces were both taken for my 2024 show ‘Stars, Night Herons and the Politics of Envy’. The show featured works from the post 2022 flood landscapes and considered the barriers that land carers face when policy decision is taken out of the hands of those who live and care for place. What happens to the landscape happens to us … we live its joy and its grief. My hope, joy and grief are all bound up in these works which are very, very close to my heart.

I adore them all, especially anything with the night herons! They are mystical, funny, awkwardly shy but beautiful birds that roost in the day and feed at night (I think that I will be stockpiling multiple pairs of the socks). My absolute favourite is the Delphi Dress. It is so easy to wear, and most importantly, it features my beloved lagoon AND the night herons. Very special to me. Thank you so much Emily.