Australian vernacular

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Artist: Alison Muir

Title: Australian vernacular

Attribution: Australian vernacular, 2023, Alison Muir

Year: 2024

Materials: silk, cotton, felt, paper

Dimensions: 176cm h x 128cm w x 0.5cm d

Image Statement: Corrugated wrought iron was invented in England in1829, for roofing on large warehouses. For the 1850 Australian Gold Rush immigrants arrived with corrugated iron dwellings, and Aboriginals used corrugated iron to replace the diminishing supplies of indigenous bark. In ‘Leaves of Iron’ Philip Drew talks of Aborigines using ‘bark in large sheets which were bent to form shelter, and it was natural for aborigines to adopt corrugated iron as a man-made bark’. In Australia it continues a much-needed role for farm buildings, water tanks, roofs, grain silos, bus shelters, and has become an integral part of the Australian psyche.