Kristin Den Exter
Wanderlust 2021
Advanced Diploma of Creative Product Development
Kristin den Exter – Foraging for Identity.
I am a first-generation Dutch-Australian/seventh generation settler-colonial artist/ecologist from Bundjalung Country (Lismore NSW). I moved to the Dandenong Ranges - Corhanwarrabul - lands of the Wurundjeri/Woiwurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations - on the edge of Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne – Naarm in January 2021.
Limited to a 5km radius during COVID lockdowns, I discovered that the place we know as “Victoria” has some of the most culturally and ecologically damaged landscapes in Australia. Immediately drawn to the bush, not knowing the indigenous ecology well, I began removing weeds. Connecting to this county through walking, foraging and weeding I found myself asking “Am I a weed?”
Creating a Wild Ink Lab and Herbarium from the weeds collected, my practice combines ecology, botany, drawing, printmaking, and installation to explore connection to country, and themes of de/colonisation.
Follow Kristin’s journey @WildInkLab 

The Wild Ink Herbarium – cyanotype photograms on found wooden slide boxes. 

The Wild Ink Herbarium – slide box detail. 
25.9 x 29cm

The Wild Ink Herbarium in the A Space Gallery (Installation).

The Wild Ink Lab and Herbarium in the A Space Gallery.
The Wild Ink Lab has spent the last few months installed in lockdown at the A-Space Gallery. 
Here is a full shot before de-installation with the Wild Ink Lab Herbaria on the wall (cyanotype typology on 9 old wooden slide boxes). 

The Wild Ink Lab – Dandelion I (Installation)

The Wild Ink Lab – Dandelion II (Installation)

The Wild Ink Lab – Dandelion III (Installation).
Drawings and etchings with burnt dandelion ink wash - the ink was made on a Rayburn stove in Tasmania in a sweet cast iron fondue pot.

The Wild Ink Lab – Dandelion notes (Artists Journal).

The Wild Ink Lab – Ipomea I (Installation).

The Wild Ink Lab – Scotch Thistle (Installation).

The Wild Ink Lab – Scotch Thistle Notes on Paper (Installation).
Here you see the test strips of scotch thistle ink sitting on scotch thistle paper. When I am making ink I am left with lots of soaked vegetable material, perfect for paper making. 

The Wild Ink Lab – Blackberry Ink Drawing (installation).
This drawing was made with bracken and nettle, dandelion and blackberry ink made in during Easter 2021 in Tasmania. 

The Wild Ink Lab – Dandelion IV (Installation).

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