The paperbark tree is an Australian mainstay. Popular with native wildlife and resistant to drought, many grow throughout Darwin, where Hunnah James currently lives and works. “Paperbarks have this shedding that’s quite symbolic of what we go through [as humans], shedding off our layers over the years,” says James, who has incorporated the bark as a material into her work, layering it among watercolour paintings of Australian flora and fauna—from banksias and wattles to zebra finches, with common crow butterflies fluttering among Geraldton wax flowers.
“We are nature, but we’re so disconnected from nature. Whenever things have been challenging in my life, the best thing I can do for myself is to be in nature and reconnect with it. But you can’t always do that, life doesn’t always enable it, so I wanted people to be able to bring that into their home, as a reminder that nature is there, and it’s there to uplift and heal.”
“I don’t paint on the paperbark,” explains James of her process. “I use fineliner and then do highlights in gold. I don’t paint with colour because I want there to be that negative light and shadow effect, the brightness of the watercolour opposing the earthy tones of the paperbark.” She doesn’t take the bark from the tree, instead harvesting it after it has been shed. She’s built up a collection, and begins each new work with a new fragment of bark, with the flora and fauna built up, based on the type of bark. “I love the different layers of the paperbark. Some layers are super absorbent, and others are impossible to draw on, they repel everything.”
Incorporating environmental elements into her work came naturally to James, who has long used nature as her primary aesthetic influence. “We are nature, but we’re so disconnected from nature. Whenever things have been challenging in my life, the best thing I can do for myself is to be in nature and reconnect with it. But you can’t always do that, life doesn’t always enable it, so I wanted people to be able to bring that into their home, as a reminder that nature is there, and it’s there to uplift and heal.”
Paperbark
Hunnah James
Tactile Arts
10—25 May
This article was originally published in the May/June 2024 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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