Scribbly Gums carry their histories openly. Each year the tree sheds its bark, revealing the wandering lines left behind by moth grubs as they travel beneath the surface. These markings transform the trunk into nature’s own canvas, where movement, time, and life cycles leave their trace.
What first appears as irregular patterning becomes a record of life unfolding beneath the surface. A reminder that every mark carries a history.
Through excavation, this painting follows a similar process. Layers of colour are buried and gradually removed, allowing the surface to reveal its own accumulated history. Like the Scribbly Gum, the work becomes a living record of time, where transformation is written directly into the skin of the painting.