Nungatta: Items we were left with when the world did not end
Nungatta South is a community of like minded individuals established on an old cattle station in Southern New South Wales in 1972. At the time my parents and their friends thought that the “world might end” and they ventured into creating a utopia that would survive the breakdown of society. I was one of the first children to live at Nungatta and the community and the place is really important to me.
Reading recently about the life of the renown self-sufficient Tasmanian, Deny King, I was struck by the similarity to my memories of Nungatta:
There is no pressure, yet things are done. Ingenuity is often demanded to perform something that would be so simple in the city. Values are so different here. There are jobs to be done simply to ensure survival. One cannot give up because a task is distasteful. Self-sufficiency means having to do all things.
Through still life I am working to capture my memories and feelings and the ethos of the community through the symbolism of objects. Nungatta is a unique place, the still lives I have painted are formed naturally in Nungatta’s sprawling sheds and houses over time.
In delving into still life I am working in a long tradition which has varied considerably over the centuries. In medieval approaches to still life, the individual objects often carried a known symbolism, such as a lily for purity or virginity. Later Protestant traditions of still life spoke of a prosperous and thus pious life. Traditionally the household items on display in traditional still life were intended to indicate the class and rank of their owner. The objects in these paintings have symbolism although they represent a more bohemian and rural life. The still lives from Nungatta are echoing a life of abandonment of then cultural norms, self sufficiency, creativity, and frugality. Living in an isolated place means that objects have both a significance of purpose and re-purpose. Household items end up outside their original domain in seemingly random tableaus. They are collected, curated and are waiting for re-purpose. My approach has been to document these tableaus of plastic Tupperware, skulls, cardboard boxes, chux wipes and broken crockery.
These objects speak to me of an ethos and culture that has evolved at Nungatta over the last 40 years. They represent thrift, utility, lack of pretension, and a bohemian homeliness. The items may look adrift, but they are curated and cared for. Things are changing, some members of the Nungatta community have sadly died. Nungatta is still a vibrant place used by many people and animals, but I wonder what will happen to it as the world does not end.