‘New Leaves. Reading the Land’ is the working title of the Newmarket SS art show. I made a conscious effort to weave the major art show themes into the mural. They included: leaves connoting nature, connecting to environmental themes ie importance of native flora and fauna to the surrounding area; water line patterns to connote the importance of Enoggera creek to the local area; Gum Tree to link to the heritage listed trees on school site; Rainbow lorikeet and Magpie to connote native visitors to school grounds; and the fairy wren which is a small local native bird that relies on the natural waterways and Enoggera reservoir. ‘Reading’ indicates pages or leaves of a book as a way to connect to history and education while also underlining a respect for Indigenous ways of reading the land. Elements: subtle lines of colour connoting levels of changing landscape; wavy lines representing typography maps; Council plan of school connoting the development planning of the area. The aim is that this form of creative arts engagement with students and the community stimulates a dialogue which ultimately leads to a new sense of respect and reverence for their natural environment and the history of their built environment.
