Artists statement

Under the doona investigates the creative potential of observing the domestic environment and connecting with the local landscape within the restrictions of COVID-19 in 2020. The global pandemic is explored from a personal domestic and local position on Wurundjeri Country in Nillumbik in my 5km radius.Universally recognisable as a symbol of hygiene, the Chux cloth was discovered discarded and coated in Nillumbik’s infamous clay on my daily walk. Local Indigofera Australis was used to extract ‘Chux blue’ to botanically dye hand spun silk and Polwarth yarn. Not a scratchy synthetic Chux, my handwoven natural fibre soft cloth positions soothing touch as an all-important sense within the physical constraints of social distancing. My masked daughter holds her pet rooster. My son learns new card tricks using crackers. Family and local surrounds provide close and reassuring comfort. The project values intimacy, touch and local connectedness. On a global scale.

Historical information

Commissioned by Nillumbik Shire Council as part of the Art in the Time of Covid project which invited artists to create artworks that reflect the pandemic and the artists' personal experiences of it