MEET THE MAKER - SAMMY HAWKER

 
 
 

June 2021

Sammy Hawker

This month, we chatted to the very talented Sammy Hawker, a local artist with a diverse photography practice, grounded in collaborative engagement with traditional Custodians, scientists, ecologists and regenerative agriculturalists. 

Sammy believes that cross disciplinary partnerships and acts of co-creation illustrate a responsible way of moving forward in an age of environmental crisis - and we couldn’t agree more! 

We were interested in all aspects of Sammy’s practice, from first discovering photography, her fascinating multi-layered process of making and creating, as well as a bit more information about her exquisite new body of work, Acts of Co-Creation, on exhibition in The Mixing Room Gallery until 2 July, 2021. 

Image left: Broulee Sunset, 2020, [6x6 photographic negative], pigment ink printed on archival Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm paper, 60.4cm W x 85.1cm H, framed, edition of 10 + AP, signed and numbered. This work was created on the land of the Yuin people.

Image right: Whale Watching at Tathra Wharf, 2020, [6x6 photographic negative developed with Kodak XTOL and ocean water collected from site], pigment ink printed on archival Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308gsm paper, 60.4cm W x 85.1cm H, framed, edition of 10 + AP, signed and numbered. This work was created on the land of the Yuin people.

We asked Sammy to tell us about one of her first experiences with photography (which included a brush with prominent Australian photographer, Bill Henson).

Boy in Versailles [People’s Choice Award from the 2010 ‘Capture the Fade’ exhibition at the Paper Mill Gallery curated by Bill Henson].

Boy in Versailles [People’s Choice Award from the 2010 ‘Capture the Fade’ exhibition at the Paper Mill Gallery curated by Bill Henson].

“Growing up my sister Lucy was more the photographer of the family. Mum and Dad bought her a little Canon EOS 300X. When I was 17 I went overseas for the first time with my Mum and one of the places we travelled was the Palace of Versailles. When walking around the grounds I took a photograph of a little boy and his dad digging for worms in the forest. A few years later I entered the photograph in an open-call out for an exhibition which was being curated by the Australian photographer Bill Henson with the theme 'Capture the Fade'. I have always loved Bill Henson's work and I think he has inspired a lot of my thinking about the aesthetic of liminal spaces. I remember once reading a quote from him at the start of one of his photo-books stating 'the same thing which draws you in, is the thing that slips away.' I think about that statement often.”

“…the same thing which draws you in, is the thing that slips away.”

Sammy’s work, 'Boy in Versailles' was selected by Bill Henson to be exhibited in the show, and later, won people's choice award. “My sister Lucy is now a Doctor and I inherited the Canon 300X a few years ago. It was the camera I was using when I first moved to the ACT area and started experimenting with analogue film at PhotoAccess.”

Sammy described her multipart process of making when creating her most recent work.

“For the exhibition Acts of Co-Creation I have been exploring ways I can facilitate interaction with the more-than human when producing visual work. 

The concept of the ‘more-than human’ does not only refer to other living beings but extends to include all forms of matter. As Jane Bennett considers in her book Vibrant Matter, what are the political implications of recognising matter that exists outside of us - including oceans, mountains, forests, storms and even methane producing rubbish tips - as not passive or inert but rather as 'forces with trajectories, propensities or tendencies of their own.’ 

The works in this show have been created from three sites  - the rugged coastline of South-Coast NSW (Yuin Country), the alpine ranges of Kosciuszko National Park (Ngarigo Country) and within Canberra and its immediate surrounds (Ngunawal Country). 

On my visits to these sites I take a few rolls of film and collect small samples of water, soil, eucalyptus bark and flowers.”

Sammy says that her friends describe her garage studio as looking a bit like an Alchemist's apothecary! “There are shelves full of jars with everything from last winter's snow-melt to cicada wings to ground up snow gum bark.”

“I use water collected from site when processing film - salt fractals form across works created with ocean water, textured ripples rise up a medium format photograph developed with the muddy lake water of Ngungara (Lake George) and images of storm clouds taken from the top of Mount Ainslie were developed with the rainwater that fell later that day. 

I've also been experimenting with the technique of chromatography. With this technique I mix my samples of vibrant matter with sodium hydroxide and invite the substance to visually express itself over filter paper soaked with silver nitrate. Acts of Co-Creation are never predictable and the resulting images can be both unsettling and thrilling. To me the image becomes alive; humming with the presence of the site itself.”

So what’s next for Sammy Hawker? We asked the artist to share what she’s working on next.

“An ongoing project I've been working on is called 'Bleeding Rivers'. In this project I am partnering with environmental scientist Dr Ian Wright who has been researching the pollution of the Bargo River. The pollution is caused by the Tahmoor Colliery disposing four to eight mega litres of toxic waste into the river daily. Ian has found the mine produces a cocktail of metals including arsenic, cobalt, molybdenum, lithium and uranium. He describes the landscape as bleeding; ‘...a moral and ecological crime.”

Sammy has been using this contaminated water in the processing of analogue film and describes the resulting images as “marked by the demonic hand of the virulent water. Hostile lines are scraped across the image and smudged chemical smears distort the picture.”

“Over the past few years I've learnt to try and feel rather than think my way out of challenges.”

Asking people how they approach a challenge is oftentimes a chance for us and our readers to learn and grow. We asked Sammy how she likes to approach challenges.

“Over the past few years I've learnt to try and feel rather than think my way out of challenges. I remember in my early 20’s a psychologist gave me this little tube made from woven bamboo that she called a Chinese Finger Trap. You slide it onto your finger and the harder you pull at it the tighter it gets. It's only when you let go and relax the finger trap releases and comes off quite easily. Now when there is something that is challenging me I'll sit with it or perhaps make some time for an energy balancing practice like yin yoga or meditation. These practices connect you with your intuitive centre as well as shift blockages and allow energy to flow. I trust the way through the challenge is there and it will come apparent when I stop trying to force it.”

As a final question, we asked Sammy to tell us what she has been listening to and any books of note that we should all add to our lists!

There are so many good books in this world! I'm a bit of a non-linear magpie reader collecting bits and pieces from here and there to take back to my nest. Currently I'm dipping in and out of The Mushroom at The End of the World by Anna Tsing and Matter and Desire: An Erotic Ecology by Andreas Weber. On my 'strictly fiction' bedside table is Bulgakov's Master and Margarita which I'm looking forward to sinking into post-exhibition madness. 

There has been a lot of loud music played in the creation of this show. Lately I've been throwing back to albums from my late-teenage years including Third by Portishead and also In Rainbows and Kid A from Radiohead. I've also been listening to IV from BADBADNOTGOOD, Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane and Dogrel by Fontaines D.C.

4x5 large format negatives interacted with ocean water collected from site.

4x5 large format negatives interacted with ocean water collected from site.

Acts of Co-Creation is on exhibition at The Mixing Room Gallery until 2 July. The show features an exquisite collection of over 20 works employing pigment inks, emulsions and silver nitrate. 

Story edited by Irina Agaronyan

Photo credits: Rohan Thomson

 
 
 
 
 
Canberra Culture, Meet The Maker, Mixing Room GalleryEllie KeftThor's Hammer