After experiencing weeks of smoke and red skies in Sydney and then seeing the shocking news coverage of the 2019/20 Black Summer bushfires in Cobargo, artist Fiona Henderson wanted to create some art pieces that would memorialise the horrific fires. She came to Cobargo to meet me and Brian and to collect some burnt things from a cottage on our land that had burned down to its foundations. She also visited Gabrielle and Dan to collect things from their burned sheds and studios. All of us wanted to give Fiona, who was a complete stranger, access to our burned sheds and studios, because as artists ourselves we wanted to support her idea for an artistic project to document and commemorate the fires.

Fiona had also been a practicing lawyer and, with her friend and lawyer Paul Mallam, set up an office in the Cobargo pub for a few days for anyone who needed legal advice or just help filling in forms or talking through problems. And, as winter approached, Fiona ran a blanket and fundraising drive in Sydney to collect warm bedding and clothes, as well as financial donations to buy water tanks for people who still had no access to fresh water on their property.

Thinking about working with burned objects, Fiona said, ‘My doctorate explored the ability of things to tell stories in images that don’t contain people. The things I collected were imbued with stories of the fires, of tragedy and suffering, but also of survival, transformation and beauty. They were very powerful to work with, and it took me some time to find the right visual language that allowed them to share their stories as clearly as possible.’

Fiona Henderson and Shirleyanne Myers with a photo of Brian’s burnt preserving jars at Fiona’s recent exhibition opening in Sydney.

It was an honour for me, as a friend and a representative of the Cobargo community, to attend the Sydney opening of Fiona’s show, Memento Bushfire.

At the opening Fiona expressed her profound gratitude to everyone in Cobargo who let her into their lives in the aftermath of the fires and enabled her to create the pieces for Memento. And I have now had the pleasure of stamping Fiona’s and Paul’s names on leaves for the Cobargo Memorial tree.

Shirleyanne Myers

Photo top right: Gabrielle’s cutlery