INTENSION

a digital Odysey project for 10 days on the island
3 channel digital video projection, existing landscape, sculptural monument

This work addresses the bronze statue of Sir John Franklin, Governor of Tasmania (1836 – 43), in Franklin Square, Hobart. Franklin is remembered as sympathetic and well-meaning. It is not widely known that he and his wife, Lady Jane Franklin, adopted Mathinna, a six –year old aboriginal girl from Flinders Island. She lived with them in Government house (in Franklin Square) for two years, but, when they returned to England, they abandoned here to an orphanage. She never recovered a sense of place in either world and died aged 17. The work involves an animated projection of Lady Jane Franklin, onto the sculpture’s stone plinth. She appears captive and struggling to support the statue of her husband. Her face is also projected onto a nearby tree. At a distance, another tree bears a projection of Mathinna’s face, quietly observing the interplay between husband and wife.

This work provides an example of how the monument can provide a catalyst to explore other histories in relation to a space and time utilizing projection.