Pulp and Smoke - winner, City of Hobart Art Prize (paper)

Within the tradition of paper cutting artists and practitioners have often looked toward the natural world as a source for imagery and content. This is due to the origins of paper and its relationship with the natural environment. In Tasmania this relationship is constantly under pressure. The proposed pulp mill in the north of the state continues to build upon this pressure. Debates for both side of the proposal have seen a lot of recent media coverage. My proposed work, Pulp and Smoke contextualises this debate within the art prize culture and questions the political implications of the choice of paper (and wood) at this juncture. Drawing from representations of landscape and natural environments located within the tradition of paper cutting the work Pulp and Smoke, 2011 conjures a fantastical view of the paper industry that is part machine and part natural organism.