Exhibition: Echoes in the Bush

An extraordinary visual documentation of the black summer bushfires, over a six year period, by artists Karen Walsh and Jennifer Forster.

Artworks in this exhibition are a response to the raw immediacy, stillness, and complexity of the Australian bush that was deeply scared during the bush fire of 2020 in the Snowy Mountains area of Talbingo. By visiting this area every year since those devastating fires, artists Jennie and Karen have created works in situ, using the landscape not just as subject, but as collaborator, immersing in its rhythms, materials, and quiet authority.

The works in this exhibition are shaped by weather, time, and terrain: submerged paper in the creeks, charcoal from fire-blackened trees, and found objects that are used as drawing tools. The artists have been inspired to record through sketchbooks, multimedia drawings and paintings while being present in the bush, observing, listening, and making art in the moment.

This practice is as much about reverence, resilience and connection to the land and its recovery as it is about mark-making. From the reverent and haunting silence of their first trip into the fire affected area to the sounds of the recovering landscape with birdsong, wind in the trees and the hum of the bees, Jennie and Karen continue to document the area and honour the bush not just as a backdrop, but as a living system: unpredictable, powerful, and deeply textured.

Echoes in the Bush invites viewers to slow down and listen — not just to the artwork, but to the landscape behind it. It’s a journey into the heart of place, where creation and country speak in quiet harmony.

Exhibition Launch

6 March | 5:30–7:30pm

📍The Ambo Gallery, 54-58 Johnston Street, Wagga Wagga