Kit Kelen Creative Development

Tell us about the evolution of your concept through this creative development process

My concept is simple. The project is titled ‘Palimpspectre’ and it will be part of a larger long term work called ghost writing, a book-length collection of poems. The work is about imagining a post-carbon economy and its effects, in the specific place where I permanently live, and see myself belonging, Worimi country, Myall Lakes. It’s about imagining this place after I’m gone.

Influenced by the COVID era, by lockdowns, by climate change (and the wish to reduce the carbon footprint), my aim, through this work is to promote the love of where we are (and of what grows here, of what there is to do to make things better in the place where we happen to be). I want to promote presence to the here-and-now as an aesthetic commitment of a kind that is available to everyone. I want to promote the idea of an inclusive community of place, not only for the benefit of local humans, but where those local humans will consider the wellbeing of all creatures, of all life.

I arrived at this project concept through a series of experiences that involved being out of my ‘comfort zone’ (i.e. away from home). These included a residency at the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) in Armidale and travels across the state to Wellington Caves to meet with other Regional Futures participants.

My recent exhibition ‘Bung Mazes’ (2022), Sydney, has helped me think through ‘Palimspectre’, as an exhibition/installation/performance. Large scale past shows at the Macao Museum of Art (China) and the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes (Lisbon, Portugal) are important precedents for ‘Palimspectre’.

There have been many conversations and e-mails along the way this year, but, for me, the most important stimulus has been reflection on various eco-arts and philosophies – in poetry, music, in visual arts, in eco-criticism and in texts from various philosophical traditions.

This mainly silent conversation has enabled me to ponder deeply the idea of a regional future, its meaning for me and my art practices and for where I am in the world. The conversation has enabled me to re-commit to the practice of my art, in the place where I am, as something I do every day.

What experts/community members did you connect with during your creative development?

One of my main interests, through my career, has been in building community through collaboration – between artforms (especially painting/drawing and poetry), in creative writing, in event creation, through translation between languages, across genres and in scholarly projects.

I am in daily conversation with many people, in the regions, in the cities, and around the world, mainly with regard to the matters which interest us collectively here i.e. specifically, the making of art that is ethically and environmentally engaged. I connect and converse regularly with a number of poets and artists in my region, specifically, for instance in Bellingen, Valla Beach, Maitland, Port Stephens, Newcastle.

I went to a meeting in Bulahdelah (my nearest town) and heard talks from a navigator friend of mine and from a local lighthouse keeper. Both were fascinating and inspiring, each equally eco-engaged, both with broad vision of what is happening with the world’s oceans and coastlines.

As an academic, I am in regular relevant communication with a range of scientific and humanities ‘experts’ about topics of mutual relevance (tending to touch on ethics, the environment and the arts).

“Being part of something greater than one might envisage by oneself may help to push an artist in a productive direction. The hope of being a part of a sum that will be more than its parts encourages one to do one’s best.”

– Kit Kelen

Describe where your work has reached in the development process and how you can see it progressing.

‘Palimpspectre’ is an immersive experience of the rewriting of place and of how a place is haunted – it is a palimpsest of spectres!’  It will be a three part installation – a nine meter work on paper, a slideshow ‘well’ projection (360 slides of paper work, texts and images of country) and a soundscape (songs, poems, instrumental music and ambient sound, recorded in the landscape).

In order to imagine a world – a place – made better, I write as a ghost. I conjure up the place beyond my time (beyond any possibility of personal benefit), to see the needed healing – to see the bush come back, to see the sky’s budget restored, to foresee a future of treaty and reconciliation. New conceptions of peace and of progress follow from the re-set I have in mind. Places are continually being re-written by time and by climate and by human activity.

‘Palimpspectre’ will be presented as part of a group exhibition with Regional Futures artists, Allison Reynolds, Kim V. Goldsmith & Ronnie Grammatica  at the Manning Regional Gallery from March 25 –  May 13 (2023).

If you were to tell someone about the impact of Regional Futures and this creative development opportunity on your practice, what would you say to them?

Creative work is made more serious by communication about it, by collaborative development with others, by critical review processes, and by being paid for it. Having one’s project be a part of a larger venture or entity can be stimulus in itself. In short, being part of something greater than one might envisage by oneself may help to push an artist in a productive direction.

The hope of being a part of a sum that will be more than its parts encourages one to do one’s best. In my case, the promise of these kinds of opportunity has been helpful. Finding a concept and a name and attendant processes to fit the larger venture (i.e. regional futures) has helped me to begin steady work on a project (i.e. ghost writing), I now feel confident will proceed.

“In order to imagine a world – a place – made better, I write as a ghost. I conjure up the place beyond my time … to see the needed healing – to see the bush come back, to see the sky’s budget restored, to foresee a future of treaty and reconciliation.”

– Kit Kelen