Art of Threatened Species + The Barrier Ranges Dragon - Ctenophorus Mirrityana

Spotlight on the endangered Barrier Ranges Dragon - Ctenophorus Mirrityana (Mirrityana means out in the sunlight in the language)

Alison Clouston & Boyd, with assigned scientist, Marc Irvin, have been exploring the lizard dragon in Mirrityana country at Mutawintji. Today Paakintji people care for Mirrityana country in a joint management scheme with the National Parks & Wildlife Service at Mutawintji. Alison: 'For every disappearance of a species or ecological community, we see a concomitant loss of human languages and cultures - the stories, the petroglyphs, the songs and ceremonies that for millennia enlarged our connection to all the rest of nature. Ecological art can be a rescue attempt, a salvage of species by poetics, and vice versa, reminding us of what we stand to lose if we fail'

The project is a partnership between Orana Arts (OA) and the Office of Environment & Heritage (OEH) (now Department of Planning, Industry & Environment (DPIE)) and Western Plains Cultural Centre (WPCC) and sees 10 regionally-based artists working with scientists from the DPIE Saving Our Species program to produce artworks inspired by issues related to a specific species, the environments, and the impacts they face. The outcomes of this research will be exhibited at the Western Plains Cultural Centre in Dubbo, opening 8th November.

(AoTS Catalogue - image Anna Glynn).