The leap diaries
The concept for Glen Skien's exhibition, The Leap Diaries, was developed over five years, then in four months the artist produced this substantial body of work comprised of prints, sculptures, assemblages and artist's books.
Titles with the word 'page' referred to Skien's concept of the show as a visual diary. As in previous work, here the artist used narrative as a basis for reflection. The story that provoked this particular work has become local folklore and is based on fact—last century an Aboriginal woman was chased by white police to the top of a scarp at Mt Mandurana, where she leaped to her death. The area is now known commonly as The Leap.
This story became the spring-board for the development of a multitude of ideas in these works, including the dispersal of the Jupera people, of fertility, women's issues, the landscape, flora and fauna and their relationships with the history of European and indigenous peoples, Aboriginal customs, European history in the Mackay region, and more.
As the artist explained, the challenge was how to tell the story. A literal record was not appropriate. The result was a thoughtful bringing together of images derived from natural history and from various mythologies. Through the images Skien offered his own contribution to the national reconciliation process with Indigenous people.
Reference to the imposition of European culture on Indigenous peoples can be found in these works in symbols like the Virgin Mary and Union Jack. Other symbols include natural objects collected at The Leap such as seed pods, canvas and calico. All of these materials are referents: the seed is a metaphor for the only link we have with the past, the calico