Charring

Charring was created during the autumn months of 2026 while I was living in Launceston and caring for my mother. On the day that would have marked her 75th wedding anniversary, she decided to discard the millet broom she had used since the first year of her marriage. I caught it before it was thrown away and was inspired to make a graphite rubbing from its worn surface onto a section of a 1950s landslip map of the kanamaluka / River Tamar.

This was followed by a mop of a similar age and a rake found leaning against the garden wall. As we worked, my mother recalled that her own mother had employed a charwoman to help clean the house.

“Charring” is often used to describe a final or thorough cleaning process. In this work, the marks left by these domestic tools become traces of labour, memory, and care, layered onto a map of a landscape that itself bears the marks of change over time.

The kanamaluka / Tamar Estuary in Tasmania faces significant environmental challenges, including high sedimentation, declining water quality, and the loss of more than half of its tidal wetlands since European settlement. Persistent mudflats, excessive nutrient and sewage loads from urban runoff, and increasing flood risks associated with climate change continue to reshape the estuary. By overlaying the impressions of ageing household tools onto historical cartography, Charring draws connections between domestic histories, intergenerational care, and the ongoing transformation of the environments we inhabit.