saskia beudel
I am a
novelist and essayist currently completing a PhD thesis that explores
cross-cultural understandings of place in western central Australia. I
first trained as a visual artist, and have a long-standing interest in
representations and perceptions of landscape, both in art historical
terms, and in the context of a settler society such as Australia’s.
After a number of years as a practising artist who also taught in the
field, I completed a Graduate Diploma in Australian Studies, a
Postgraduate Diploma in English with Cultural Studies, and an MA in
Creative Writing, all at the University of Melbourne. My first novel,
Borrowed Eyes, was published in 2002.
A few years ago, while bushwalking in central Australia, I became trapped in a water-filled gorge. The experience was transformative and drew me back to the region on numerous occasions in order to understand more of this particular desert location. My PhD thesis uses three sites in the region (Redbank Gorge, Labi Labi, Central Mount Wedge) to explore the relationship between memory and place, and cross-cultural understandings of that relationship. I ask whether place itself, and not just human subjects, can be considered to harbour memory. With a history of colonisation, what happens to Aboriginal land when people are no longer present, or can only visit intermittently places to which they maintain strong emotional ties? I use artefacts in the landscape, and clusters of narratives that surround them, to explore multivalent histories from the perspectives of both Aboriginal and settler participants. It is my aim to explore relations not only between people, but also between objects, other living things, and ecological processes, by being attentive to the narratives that surround them. Objects include debris left during cross-cultural encounters in the 1950s and 60s, which I consider as a form of memorial; an introduced grass species, buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), as one agent in environmental change; and topographic features. The thesis suggests that knowledge of place is multiple, and differs according to divergent knowledge systems. However, an undertaking to engage with intercultural understandings of place is one to which we, as members of a settler society, are ethically bound.
Recent Selected Publications
Commissioned Art Essays
Reviews (Borrowed Eyes and Essays)
A few years ago, while bushwalking in central Australia, I became trapped in a water-filled gorge. The experience was transformative and drew me back to the region on numerous occasions in order to understand more of this particular desert location. My PhD thesis uses three sites in the region (Redbank Gorge, Labi Labi, Central Mount Wedge) to explore the relationship between memory and place, and cross-cultural understandings of that relationship. I ask whether place itself, and not just human subjects, can be considered to harbour memory. With a history of colonisation, what happens to Aboriginal land when people are no longer present, or can only visit intermittently places to which they maintain strong emotional ties? I use artefacts in the landscape, and clusters of narratives that surround them, to explore multivalent histories from the perspectives of both Aboriginal and settler participants. It is my aim to explore relations not only between people, but also between objects, other living things, and ecological processes, by being attentive to the narratives that surround them. Objects include debris left during cross-cultural encounters in the 1950s and 60s, which I consider as a form of memorial; an introduced grass species, buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris), as one agent in environmental change; and topographic features. The thesis suggests that knowledge of place is multiple, and differs according to divergent knowledge systems. However, an undertaking to engage with intercultural understandings of place is one to which we, as members of a settler society, are ethically bound.
Recent Selected Publications
- Beudel, S. Borrowed Eyes, Sydney: Picador, 2002
- Beudel, S. Forthcoming: ‘Desert Grasslands’, Overland 181, 2008, 20–26
- Beudel, S. ‘Kim Mahood’s Evolving Geographies,’ Eco Humanities Corner, Australian Humanities Review 42, August 2007
- Beudel, S. ‘Walking: Western MacDonnell Ranges’, Best Australian Essays 2006, Drusilla Modjeska (ed), BlackInc, 2006, 292–310
- Beudel, S. ‘Walking: Western MacDonnell Ranges’, HEAT New Series 10, 2005, 7–25
- Beudel, S. ‘Borrowed Room’, Meanjin 58:1, 1999, 40–44
Commissioned Art Essays
- Beudel, S. ‘Four Wheel Drive’, Prudence Flint, Nellie Castan Galleries, Melbourne, 2007
- Beudel, S. ‘Tincture’, Kate Ellis, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces, Melbourne, 2004
- Beudel, S. Topographies of Memory: Carloyn Eskdale’s rooms, Canberra Contemporary Art Gallery Publication, 2002
- Beudel, S. ‘Galling Lake Frome’ catalogue essay for Countryside: Spaces and Places, Sean Loughrey, 1st Floor Gallery, Melbourne, 1999
- Beudel, S. ‘Furnishings’, Claustrophobia, Elizabeth MacGregor and Claire Doherty (eds), Ikon Gallery Publication, Birmingham UK, 1998
Reviews (Borrowed Eyes and Essays)
- Delia Falconer, ‘So Wonderful, More of the Same’, The Age, A2, Saturday December 9, 2006, 24
- Paul Genoni, ‘Tampa Proof?: Australian Fiction 2002–2003’, Westerly vol 48, 2003, 159–74
- Jenny Digby, ‘Heads Above Water’, Australian Book Review, 245, October 2002, 52–53
- Bronwyn Rivers, ‘A Singular Life Best Left Alone’, Spectrum, Sydney Morning Herald, 24–25 August 2002, 12
- Peter Pierce, ‘Nursing a Wartime Wound’, Weekend, The Herald Sun, 17 August 2002, 30
- Thuy On, ‘Two Debut on the Dark Side’, Agenda, The Sunday Age, 25 August 2002, 8
- Peter Pierce, ‘Home Brew’, The Bulletin, 27 August 2002, 66
