Within the bush - Ink from charcoal

I live in the Northern Territory, Australia, a tropical climate and subject to bush fires. Fires at the start of the dry season are ‘cool burns’, which are low to the ground and allow vegetation to regenerate. When an uncontrolled bushfire comes through the land late in the dry season, it burns the ground, the undergrowth and high up the trees, leaving everything in its wake burnt black, except perhaps for the termite mounds. These fires are known as ‘hot burns’.

Collecting charcoal of Stringybark and Woollybutt trees where she lives, to make ink, and using water from the same area as part of the printmaking and image making process, Gribbin lays testimony to her local bushland in northern Australia being depleted by an ever-increasing number of intense fires each year, whilst also acknowledging the strength of the bush to try to keep regenerating.

More on this project and the process of making ink from charcoal can be found at:

Bush Sumi and Making Ink from Fire.

©JacquelineFGribbin2024