Cora Jongsma

Cora Jongsma explains, "Coming from the northern hemisphere, I encountered new land with other rules and conditions. Being on unknown territory, I felt sometimes like one of the first pioneers, ignorant but curious about farming methods and farming tasks. Intrigued by the super fast cultivation activities of British colonists and the fire stick farming skills of [Aboriginal people] in pre-colonial Australia, I researched the enormous transformation of Australian landscape and the harmful consequences for the fragile Australian soil. Through the making of feltscapes and land-versations, stories could be told and shared.”

During her residency, Jongsma explored the making and marking of land through the manipulation of felt. Lines observed in the surrounding landscape represented humans' cultivating activities of recent memory, as well as historical events. Jongsma’s process involved collecting GPS mowing data made by a local dairy farmer, and a mapping of remarkably situated fruit trees between native trees. Her works aimed to not only serve as a conversation piece between farmer and agricultural consultant, but to explore the visible connection between human and earth.