Nadine Schmoll
Wrapped Trees, Cubberla Creek

These photographs document four trees on the banks of Cubberla Creek, in an effort to reconcile my childhood memories of this place with an adult understanding of the challenges facing our natural environment. Cubberla Creek lies in the midst of the Western suburbs in Meanjin/Brisbane, down the road from my childhood home. As kids we would venture down to the creek to play and peer into the water, looking for fish or turtles and dreaming of platypus. Most of the riparian zone along the creek has long been exposed and overrun with weeds, vulnerable to erosion and flooding. Local bushcare groups have been regenerating this area for many years and slowly the native vegetation is growing back. The intention to conserve and protect is manifest in the use of repurposed plastic packaging, conventionally employed to cushion fragile items, here a temporary wrapping of the landscape. I was inspired by the “wrapped” environmental projects undertaken by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude since the 1960s.