I scattered floral and faunal debris, including moths, butterflies, thistledown and mistletoe flowers, as well as cleaned rubbish collected while walking along the Birrarung/Yarra River in northeast Naarm/Melbourne over colour photopaper to create this large-scale photogram.

The toxic haze hanging over the fictional town of Praiseworthy in Alexis Wright’s novel of the same name informed the artwork’s composition. Both this haze and ‘Moth-er II’ convey the miasmal deleteriousness of colonialism.

I look from amongst this haze, however, and as I transport and transpose natural and noxious items from waterway to artwork, I also become a caretaker of place as ecological toxins are removed.