The intricate beauty of fire in Australia is a key environmental mechanism to rejuvenate the life of our ecosystems, says Rebecca Selleck, one of the two artistic collaborators in Fire Country, a new exhibition at the Craft ACT Gallery.

Selleck has collaborated with James Tylor to create a body of work that explores the gift of fire while displaying the consequences of colonisers disregarding Indigenous people’s knowledge of the element.

“Fire behaves differently in different part of Australia and has been part of this country for millennia. Plants have adapted and suited to it, as well as all lifecycles in the ecosystem,” Selleck said.

“With colonisation, the whole process of trying to adapt Australia to become a European continent has had disastrous effects, and we still see that mentality today.

“The idea that precolonial Australia is a non-desirable landscape, and First Nations’ knowledge being disregarded, along with massive global changes to the climate and environment, has led to massive soil erosion, land clearing, and soil salinity.”

Heartbreakingly inspired by the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, Selleck had recently given birth to her son, and spent the summer running from the smoke to save her newborn from harm.

“As we were trying to get away from the smoke, we just saw ecosystems collapsing from the fire. With Indigenous knowledge, there’s an understanding of creating fire at right temperature at the right time, so seeds can germinate,” she said.

“It shows such an interplay between humans with the natural environment and creates space that would otherwise be avoided.”

Fire Country, while inspired from destruction, isn’t based on fear but instead on love and beauty.

Tylor is a proud Kaurna man from the Adelaide region. He explored the cultural impact of colonisation on the Australian landscape through fire mismanagement through his furniture craft, and Selleck delved into the environmental impact on flora and fauna through her photography.

“The scorching of a landscape, the burning, it doesn’t have to be catastrophic, and the reemerging shoots are beautiful. We wanted to bring that into the home and show people they don’t have to be scared of fire, and there needs to be a conversation,” Selleck said.

Fire Country is on display at the Craft ACT Gallery from Thursday 19 May until Saturday 2 July.

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