Situate TAiR April 2025: Olly Read

Travelled from limilinaturi/Devonport on the north-west coast of lutruwita/Tasmania.

I arrive to heat and flies.
The sky is so large, the land is flat.
The hills hug the town and stretch out their arms into the distance.
I spend the first night staring at the dripping showered in my little hotel room.
I don’t want my anxiety to stop me from experiencing the most I can.

My first impression of the studio is the floating shelf! It is love at first sight.
By the second day in the studio I have borrowed one of the gallery’s projectors and begin experimenting with how my video works interact with the space of the studio.
Playing with the angle and scale. How it interacts with objects, architecture, and the texture of surfaces.
I venture to op shops to see what kind of materials I can find.
I continue to play with the video in the studio.
I play in the pantry.
I use multiple projectors and experiment with layering and filling the space with movement and colour.

Jet takes me on a road trip.
We spend some time at the scenic Big Hole, I could sit here for hours, even with all people escaping the heat on this Easter weekend it is quiet enough.
I listen to birds and watch the water ripple.
At Simpson’s gap I’m blown away by the scale and colour of this place, it is so vibrantly orange.
It is later in the afternoon by now and the light is reflecting off the rippling water.

Back in the studio I am inspired by the zines to play with the scanner.
I come into the studio early in the morning, the light shines through the blinds and sends a pink glow over the space.

I spend a day at Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park.
It is an awe-inspiring place.
There is something deeply dystopian and cynical about the ‘resort town’.
It is an honour to have the stories of this place shared with us.
The bus driver pulls over on the highway on the way back to town and we all get out and stare silently at the Milky Way.

I have several experiences during my trip that I cannot yet put into words...

I felt more at home here than I have anywhere else on the ‘mainland’.
It reminds me of the North of Lutruwita in as many ways as it is deeply alien to my home, to what is familiar.

I look forward to coming back!

 

This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, which supports arts in regional and remote Australia.