Jill Sampson

After the Fire

After the Fire
2019
copper,
50 x 28 x 2.5cm (variable)
photos Jill Sampson

After the fire is inspired by the act of walking through the bush after a fire has burnt across the area. These art objects resemble natural objects like leaves, seeds and bark, which are scarred by insects and then charred and blackened by fire. After a bushfire, the leaf litter may hold its shape, look charred but intact, but when you try to lift burnt leaves and bark from the ground, it disintegrates at your touch. 
Disintegration.

Each piece is hand sawn to the same size and shape and the making process follows a similar pattern.  The copper is heated, beaten, scarred, gouged and marked. A process that repeats many times.  
Repetition.
Disintegration.

I’ve used tools that were once part of an agricultural rake. I re-purposed broken steel tines and other cast off items through grinding, sawing and sharpening in my Father’s simple farm workshop. The farm is where I have fought bushfires, observed the aftermath, and experienced the slow re-growth of the bushland.
Land.
Repetition.
Disintegration.

After the Fire was created just prior to Australia’s tragic bushfire season of 2019/2020, now called the Black Summer Bushfires.
Fire.
Land.
Repetition.
Disintegration.