Lizzie Buckmaster Dove
SOLASTALGIA
5 November to 23 November 2013
LIZZIE BUCKMASTER DOVE’S S O L A S T A L G I A
Solastalgia is a haunting word, with its echoes of melancholia, yearning, pain and anxiety.
Coined by philosopher Glenn Albrecht only 10 years ago, solastalgia describes the existential
distress of human beings when they can no longer derive solace from a beloved home environment,
because that environment is recognised as being under threat of “physical desolation”. Professor
Albrecht has defined solastalgia in its simplest terms as “the homesickness you have when you’re
still at home”.
There are all kinds of threats to security on Earth. Violence. Famine. Poverty. One of the most
pervasive threats to our sense of trust in domestic safety is environmental degradation. We try to
suppress it, but we sense with an aching heart that our beautiful and plentiful planet is changing.
A collective anxiety about our sense of place is emerging.
Buckmaster Dove lives in the NSW south coast hamlet of Coledale. As a daily walker in the littoral
zone below her house, Buckmaster Dove can pick up the evidence of the changing environment
— small pieces of plastic debris washed up by the tides on rocks or beach.
Buckmaster Dove collects and sorts these battered industrial travelers. Meticulously placed in tins
and labelled with the moon-phase that pulled them to shore, the bottle tops, clips and sundry other
discards are transformed into scientific offerings. It’s as though an archaeologist a thousand years
from now had recovered the plastic remnants, and marveled over the evidence of a world in which
so much was sacrificed for such fleeting luxuries as bottled water and plastic toys.
In Buckmaster Dove’s respect and tenderness for the meticulous assemblage of her finds, there is
hope that we care enough to make change. Without waving placards or shouting into a megaphone,
Buckmaster Dove quietly reminds us that home is precious and can not be taken for granted.
Elizabeth Fortescue, Arts Writer
Moon Cycle 2013, 28 x 73 cm, marine debris, tins & paint
Moon Cycle ii 2013, 28 x 73 cm, marine debris, tins & paint
Life and its Marvels, When Man Tilts Nature’s Balance 2013, 67.5 X 52.5 cm, marine debris, book, glue, screws
Life and its Marvels, The Natural Balance of Life 2013, 67.5 X 52.5 cm, marine debris, book, glue, screws
Life and its Marvels, Inventions by Nature and Man 2013, 67.5 X 52.5 cm, marine debris, book, glue, screws
Life and its Marvels, Living Together in Partnership 2013, 67.5 X 52.5 cm, marine debris, book, glue, screws
Full Moon (blue and red) 2013, 22 x 32 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waxing Crescent (red and green) 2013, 22 x 32 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waxing Gibbous (blue and red) 2013, 22 x 32 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waning Gibbous (red and yellow) 2013, 22 x 32 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
this page;
New Moon (red and green) 2013, 9 x 16.5 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waxing Crescent (magenta, yellow and green) 2013, 9 x 16.5 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waning Gibbous (green, blue, yellow and red) 2013, 9 x 16.5 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waning Crescent (blue and green) 2013, 9 x 16.5 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
opposite page;
Waning Crescent (red, orange and pink) 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
New Moon (red, yellow and green) 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Last Quarter (green and black) 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Waning Crescent (red and yellow) 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Disrupt Unbalance (green and black) 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Tilt 2013, 22 x 32 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Midden 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Psychoterratic Typology 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Found Relic Float 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
Drift Rise Swell Tide 2013, 20 x 29 cm, marine debris, tin & paint
opposite page;
Foraminifera (plate 11) 2013, 50.5 x 40.5, marine debris & etched glass
next page from left;
Formainifera (plate 7) 2013, 50.5 x 40.5, marine debris & etched glass
Foraminifera (plate 8) 2013, 50.5 x 40.5, marine debris & etched glass
BIOGRAPHY
1993 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013 Solastalgia, NG Art Gallery, Sydney
Pool, the Alchemy of Blue, Wollongong City Gallery, Wollongong
2010 Still Light, NG Art Gallery, Sydney
2009 An End To Myth, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Into The Woods, NG Art Gallery, Sydney
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012 Here Today, Gone Tomorrow, Life’s Fragile Nature, NG Art Gallery
2011 Korea International Art Fair, with NG Art Gallery, Korea
A Cabinet of Curiosities, NG Art Gallery
Prometheus Award, finalist exhibition, All Saints Anglican School, Merrimac
2010 On paper, in time and in others’ minds, Art Piece Gallery, Mullumbimby
Meroogal Women’s Travelling Art Prize, various Regional Galleries
2009 Summer Reading, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York
Waiting, NG Art Gallery
20PLUS: The Sum of Us, Flinders Lane Gallery
… Of Nature, NG Art Gallery
CarriageARTworks, Carriageworks, Sydney
2008 Art Sydney with NG Art Gallery
The Perfumed Garden, Flinders Lane Gallery
2007 Fragile Planet, NG Art Gallery
Treasures, Flinders Lane Gallery
There is No Place Like Home, NG Art Gallery
COLLECTIONS
Artbank NSW, The City of Sydney/Town Hall Collection, Emirates
Private collections in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, New Zealand and Australia
PUBLICATIONS
Pool, the Alchemy of Blue, catalogue, Wollongong City Gallery, essay by Caroline Baum, 2013
Artbank Calendar, February, 2011
Perfect Paper, Adeline Loh, Page One Publishing, 2009
FILM
Pool, the Alchemy of Blue, by Theme Media, 2013
Cutting Lizzie, by Joady Weatherup, Production, All, 8 min, 2010
GRANTS
NAVA NSW Artists’ Grant, 2012
Australia Council for the Arts, New Work – Emerging, 2011
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Art Almanac, Exhibition review by Melissa Pesa, November 2013
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, Open Gallery, by Michael Fitzgerald, June 1-2, 2013
templeandwebster.com
therawbook.com
thisiscolossal.com
Art Monthly, Australia, Artnotes, Issue 259, May 2013
Illawarra Mercury, Good Life, Artworks Inspired by Nature, by Benjamin Long, April 12, 2013
artcollector.com
Vogue Living, ‘Art & Events’, April, 2013
South Coast Style, ‘Coastal Watch’, Autumn issue, 2013
House & Garden, Insider, by Elizabeth Wilson, April, 2012
McGrath Magazine, Cabinet of Curiosities, July 30, 2011
Illawarra Mercury, Weekender, Profile, Wonder of Wildlife, by Louise Turk, October 2-3, 2010
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, Open Gallery, by Lissa Christopher, June 12, 2010
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, Sharp Thinker, by Lissa Christopher, May 29, 2010
Sydney Magazine, Art, Issue 86, June, 2010
Art Monthly Australia, Artnotes, Issue 230, June, 2010
Vogue Living, Art & Events, May/June, 2010
Inside Out, Anniversary Art Auction, May/June, 2010
insideout
Inside Out, ‘Paper Works’, styled by Lara Hutton, July/August, 2009
The Australian Financial Review, ‘What’s On – Sydney’, May, 2009
Home Beautiful, ‘Style File’, styled by Stephanie Powell, June, 2009
Inside Out, ‘A Weekend With’ by Rachael Mogan, May/June, 2009
insideout
Limelight, ‘What’s On – Victoria’, April, 2009
Arrivals and Departures, ‘On Arrival – Melbourne’, March, 2009
Belle magazine, ‘Right Now – Art’, edited by Leta Keens, Feb/March, 2009
Home Beautiful, ‘Style File’, styled by Stephanie Powell, December, 2008
Inside Out, ‘Play On Words’, styled by Vanessa Colyer Tay, September, 2008
Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum, Open Gallery, by Josephine Tovey, May 17, 2008
Sydney Morning Herald, Essential, The Source by Melissa Penfold, May 15, 2008
Sydney Morning Herald, The Planner, compiled by Kerry Coleman, May 10-11, 2008
Australian Country Style magazine, ‘Change The Frame’ by , April, 2008
dailyimprint
Lizzie is represented by NG Art Gallery, Sydney
End pages; (front) Drift Rise Swell Tide 2013, archival photograph, 50 x 50 cm
(Back) Coast Harden Brittle Star 2013, archival photograph, 50 x 50 cm
A special thank you to Professor Glenn Albrecht for the conversation and to Stefica Key for access to her PhD thesis plates
on foraminifera.
All photography © Lizzie Buckmaster Dove
Graphic design by Lizzie Buckmaster Dove
© Lizzie Buckmaster Dove 2013