The Common Line, in progress, Gundaroo Common, NSW

The Common Line, in progress, Gundaroo Common, NSW

On Commoning

The Common Line, in progress, Gundaroo Common, NSW

The Common Charter

About the Common Charter

It is often forgotten that the law ‘to common’ is a fundamental underpinning of our laws and constitution. It is the basis of the Magna Carta, which was formed in recognition of the rights of people to make a sustainable living from the land they live on without recourse to the state. The historian Peter Linebaugh in his book, The Magna Carta Manifesto, discusses the development of this document. He states that the message of the charters that comprise the Magna Carta is clear: “political and legal rights can exist only on an economic foundation. To be free citizens we must also be equal producers and consumers.” (Linebaugh, 2008, 6) He makes a case that the charters are crucial legal documents for the protection of individual and collective rights from appropriation by the state. He promotes the idea of commoning as an active process by which the concept of the commons is continually reassessed and reapplied to the world.

Through working alongside Indigenous Australian artists in the field of Printmedia I have been shown another way of thinking and being in the world. Ancestors animate the land and the history of people and place are continuously interwoven. The imaging processes and materials reveal a particular way of occupying place.

My interest in pursuing the tradition of commoning was prompted by the site of Gundaroo Common where I walked my dog each day. I came across a system that could be inclusive of difference and sympathetic to other ways of being. It is a tradition deep within our cultural memory that can give us an imaginative, ungranted, unscripted form of life; a future that we could imagine in common with one another.

I have now moved from Gundaroo and find myself starting to draw in a new environment in the Kimberleys. Living in the town of Kununurra, I found another commons called Mirima National Park. A section of the park has been allocated as a public area for locals and tourists alike. It is here that I continue my pursuit of what it means to common.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Gundaroo Common


Gundaroo Common is a 200-acre block of land gazetted in 1870 under English law as a site for the villagers to keep cattle and camels on.  It is a living remnant of an ancient way of life.  I am interested in the possibility of how an ancient law can be re-animated on a small parcel of land to regain rights and obligations that were once a form of living.  ‘To common’ is a medieval English law that confirmed the rights of the people to make use of the forests and the rivers to meet basic economic needs in common with other people.  In Australia we live in a contested land that is being destroyed through misuse and yet we do not seriously listen to the traditional owners.  ‘To common’ offers a solution to how we may allow difference to occupy the same place and negotiate a new way of being in the land.
In Australia a major shift in the art world occurred through the Indigenous art movement. The art of Indigenous Australians revealed a different way of looking at the land we live in.  Indigenous ancestors animate the land and the history of people and place are continuously interwoven.  The art making processes and materials reveal a particular way of occupying place.  Through a law deep within English culture perhaps we can find a meeting point that is sensitive and capable of allowing different rights to co-exist.  Through a discussion of my art practice and research I will propose how a shift may occur in our thinking. My work is based on the site of Gundaroo Common but responds to propositions seen in Indigenous Australian artworks.  A dialogue is proposed to see if differing traditions can meet in the same place and negotiate an imaginative, ethical and unscripted form of life; a future that we could imagine in common with one another.
Posted by at

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousAugust 10, 2019 at 4:11 PM

    I'm 15 years old. I was born with HIV my mother passed away because of the HIV infection And I regret why i never met Dr Itua he could have cured my mum for me because as a single mother it was very hard for my mother I came across Dr itua healing words online about how he cure different disease in different races diseases like HIV/Aids Herpes,Parkison,Asthma,Autism,Copd,Epilepsy,Shingles,Cold Sore,Infertility, Chronic Fatigues Syndrome,Fibromyalgia,Love Spell,Prostate Cancer,Lung Cancer,Glaucoma.,psoriasis, Cataracts,Macular degeneration,Cardiovascular disease,Lung disease.Enlarged prostate,Osteoporosis.Alzheimer's disease,psoriasis,
    Dementia.,Tach Disease,Breast Cancer,Blood Cancer,Colo-Rectal Cancer,Love Spell,Chronic Diarrhea,Ataxia,Arthritis,Amyotrophic Lateral Scoliosis,Fibromyalgia,Fluoroquinolone Toxicity
    Syndrome Fibrodysplasia Ossificans ProgresSclerosis,Weak Erection,Breast Enlargment,Penis Enlargment,Hpv,measles, tetanus, whooping cough, tuberculosis, polio and diphtheria)Diabetes Hepatitis even Cancer I was so excited but frighten at same time because I haven't come across such thing article online then I contacted Dr Itua on Mail drituaherbalcenter@gmail.com/ . I also chat with him on what's app +2348149277967 he tells me how it works then I tell him I want to proceed I paid him so swiftly Colorado post office I receive my herbal medicine within 4/5 working days he gave me guild lines to follow and here am I living healthy again can imagine how god use men to manifest his works am I writing in all articles online to spread the god work of Dr Itua Herbal Medicine,He's a Great Man.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)