m. Palimpsest 2006

Palimpsest: writing material or manuscript on which the original writing has been erased and written over

The Murray Darling Palimpsest is a unique visual art event which engages issues of ecological and social sustainability through out the Murray Darling Basin, Australia’s food bowl. It has evolved out of the Mildura Palimpsest, an art and environment event and the successor to the Mildura Sculpture Triennials of the 1970s and 80s. The Murray Darling Palimpses involves nearly 100 artists working with fourteen host organisations in four states and the A.C.T. The works and ideas come together through a web site, a three day symposium hosted by La Trobe University in Mildura, 1 – 3 September.

A Palmer winter event, involving 8 artists, was held as a contribution to the Palimpsest, a basin wide visual art event engaging issues of ecological and social sustainability. Winter is the time of renewal, the vital rains, the cold and the mist but it is also a time when the rural landscape is less engaged by the urban dweller, too ‘cold and wet’. The Palimpsest structure enables a broader audience than may be able to attend the physical event. Winter access on the property can be difficult, the creeks and drainage lines readily become impassable to vehicles. Over 200 people visited in what turned out to be a dry and sunny August.

Murray Darling Palmer Palimpsest Artists
August, 2006