I was commissioned by the City of Hobart to create an Acknowledgement of Country plaque and used this opportunity to take a contemporary approach to the typical Acknowledgement we are so use to seeing and reading.

This work invites the public to contemplate their own connection to Country whilst providing space and opportunity for them to acknowledge the Country that they live and work on within the islands capital, nipaluna/Hobart.

I Am Country is an explorative written piece that encourages the reader to imagine the person as Country or Country as the person. It is a gentle and soft journey into the heart and spirit of indigeneity among Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

The artwork that will sit aside the poem is inspired by the fresh water that carves through the city from the base of kunanyi/Mt Wellington and out to the salty waters of timtumili minunya/Derwent River.

The work was unanimously passed by the Hobart City Council on the evening of March 15 and will be permanently installed outside of Town Hall later in the year once design elements and fabrication have been finalised.

Accompanying the work will be a planting of native grasses and shrubs that will sit around the plaque as per the artistic impression.