ABSTRACT
Mandy Martin has always worked with scientists. From an early age, her ecologist father, Peter Martin, drew her eye to the workings of nature. Later, she traveled with him on ecological field trips, sketching and painting, and drawing on his deep understanding of the relations between soils and plants. Much of her painting is physically “grounded,” that is, the pigments and soils of the place she portrays are embodied in the artworks. Soil is the foundation of her art, as well as the ecological foundation of the landscapes she depicts. Her art projects always begin in place, on the ground. They often start with a “hot” political issue, such as gold mining in her home region of central western New South Wales; water management in the tributaries of Lake Eyre; or biodiversity management in the Desert Channels of South West Queensland. Increasingly, concerns about place have to be understood in partnership with Aboriginal custodians, such as the management of country in remote areas of Western Australia (as in the project Desert Lake) and Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory (as in the project Arnhembrand).
