Wildflowers and Other Landscapes
Abstract
“Wildflowers and Other Landscapes” explores, issues of difference, gender, the field of vision, the body, the landscape in Australia, and the way we write, mark and imagine the land. The piece begins from my own bodily experience of living in this country. Along with other non-Indigenous Australians I carry with me many questions about belonging: where do I belong?; where are my people?; what is my place? As a white woman where do I have the right to go? I am an urban dweller: what is my relationship with country? The paper is presented as a meditation on these questions, attempting to link and move between associated experiences and ideas. The challenging painting on found tarpaulin, entitled “Wildflower”, by Western Australian artist Jo Darbyshire, provides a touchstone for this discussion.
Keywords
gender, landscape, place, belonging
Author Biography
Stephanie Green
Stephanie Green completed a doctorate in English at The University of Western Australia in 1997 entitled The Gothic Space: desire, gender and performativity in 19th Century British Fiction. Stephanie has worked as an academic, arts administrator and freelance writer with published fiction, non-fiction and poetry in academic journals, newspapers and literary magazines. She has won prizes both for her academic teaching and her creative writing, including The Age Short Story Award. She now works for Fremantle Arts Centre Press and lectures part time for the UWA Extension Program.