Beth Hatton
Textile Artist
Artist Statement April 2006
The colonisation of Australia, with its introduction of exotic species, land clearance, hunting and trapping, upset delicate natural balances established over millennia. Many native species became extinct or endangered because of these disturbances while others flourished to plague proportions (such as the kangaroo now culled under supervision of the National Parks and Wildlife Service).
Focussing particularly on Australian mammals, whose pelts became our first floor coverings, I have woven three series of rugs taking up these themes – Extinct and Endangered Species (showing museum pelts); Imprint (exploring the fingerprint as evidence of human agency); and Selection (using stencil lettering, such as that on wool bales, to list introduced species and the native mammals which they displaced).
While my imagery explores our endangerment of some native animals, my materials – wool and kangaroo skin offcuts – speak for those species which thrived as a result of early settlement. Today we are very aware that our ongoing requirements for commodities such as food and wool must be reconciled with the need to maintain healthy and diverse ecosystems. All elements in our world are interdependent, linked to each, just as imagery and materials are interwoven in my rugs.