Tim Georgeson
PYROGENESIS
2021
1 channel film and sound installation
Colour + Sound
Original composition by Polish musician Hania Rani
Duration: 3:08 min
Not for sale
TRUTH IN FIRE
In response to the catastrophic bushfires of the South East Coast of Australia in the summer of 2019-20, Australian visual artist and filmmaker Tim Georgeson embarked on the project Truth in Fire. The Black Summer fires engulfed around 24 million hectares of natural habitat, agricultural and urban environs across Australia. Thirty-three people lost their lives, and it is estimated several billion native mammals, birds and reptiles died – excluding infinitely more insects. In consultation with Indigenous Fire Keepers, Georgeson captured the environmental impact of an unprecedented number of fires initiated by thunderstorms across the Yuin Nation. Using moving image, sound and photography the artist communicates the deep sense of loss felt by First Nations people and their path toward the healing of their communities and Country through transformational ceremonies.
Fire is integral to the cycle of many plant species in Australia, but it is the timeliness and severity of the heat that determines optimum conditions for regeneration. Extending the project in 2021, Georgeson travelled to Kakadu in the Northern Territory where cultural fire practices are founded on over 65,000 years of unbroken, inter-generational knowledge. Meeting Victor Cooper (Guruwalu), a proud Minitja man, the artist witnessed the sensitive interplay of Aboriginal people with Country through ‘cool’ burning. These images convey the human application of fire to maintain and revitalise ecological balance, as well as marram, or avian species, which co-opt fire practices to forage for food.
Truth in Fire hopes to inspire cross-cultural knowledge exchange and support international climate movements. In Australia, a collaborative approach to land management, which respects Indigenous knowledge of Country and cultural fire practices, offers a significant model for the continuance of ecological biodiversity.
Tim Georgeson acknowledges and thanks the Yuin, Minitja and Murumburr First Nations people of Australia for inviting him into their world and sharing their knowledge.
The artist acknowledges these traditional custodians of Country and their continuing connection to the land, culture and community. Georgeson offers his respect to the Elders past, present and future.
Sovereignty was never ceded.
Chanamee, Never Die - Untitled I, 2023
Edition of 8 + 2 AP’s.
Digital print on photo paper.
$3500 + GST
Artist statement by Tim Georgeson
This is a cinematic journey deep into the Tanami Desert with the Karrinyarra people. Together, we bring indigenous lore to life in art through found moments with fire, landscapes, objects, sound, voice and the Aboriginal Luritja language. We weave through country that has been transformed by recent desert fires, capturing memento mori: earth scars, traces of extinguished life, transforming flora, ant mounds, bushes, wildlife, smoke stain, fire graves, human debris.
As an artist who has made a career of observing diverse cultural realities around the world, this work has been seminal in exposing me to a deeper meditation on the ancient knowledge and histories held within the earth, skies and water of the Australian landscape, as well as the Indigenous Australian spiritual traditions embodied within them.
“Fire is a regenerator of life, without fire we wouldn’t survive,” say Nigel & Terence, Karrrinyarra elders.
I ACKNOWLEDGE THE LURITJA AND KARRINYARRA PEOPLE AS THE TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE SKIES, LAND AND WATER AND GIVE RESPECT TO ELDERS BOTH PAST AND PRESENT. I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SOVEREIGNTY HAS NEVER BEEN CEDED.
About the artist: Georgeson is a visual artist working with film, photography and sound, he creates immersive cinematic spaces where environments and bodies are transformed through the gaze of unexpected visual-musical ecologies. His creative insight into the human condition gives his work a unique perspective at the boundaries of art and documentary he captures complex dynamics in contemporary life and merges these found moments with musical design and storytelling in groundbreaking collaborations, most notably with Australian Indigenous artists.
Georgeson has won World Press Photo, Leica Camera and National Geographic awards. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in France, UK, Japan, Holland, Canada, the US, and Australia. His work is held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia, Art Bank, Bundanon Trust Art Museum and Australian Museum, as well as in regional galleries and private collections internationally.