Community Cartography Workshop

Mapping Internal and External Terrains Community Cartography Workshop with Karma Barnes 

Join artist Karma Barnes in the Mapping Internal & External Terrains: Community Cartography workshop to explore the intersection of art, mapping, and personal experiences through earth pigments.

The workshop traverses the geological terrain and volcanic landscapes of the Northern Rivers and explores how we, the inhabitants of the land, form and change with the forces of the elements, time, pressures, and climatic factors. Participants are invited to each gather and bring with them 250-gram samples of local pigments, soils or food mud from their local environment. Participants will learn about processing materials into usable pigments and working with binders and mulling processes to transform these pigments into natural paints. Participants will create 3 works on paper to take home and contribute to a series of collaborative pigment paintings to contribute to the larger Refective Cartographies artwork, that will be exhibited in the window of Lismore Regional Gallery (in the Quad) and then featured in the artist's upcoming show, Relative Terrains, at Grafton Regional Gallery opening on September 16th.

This workshop is for people aged 14 +. Tickets are free but places limited. Please book your ticket here, to ensure you don't miss out! Call the gallery on 02 6627 4600, or email linsey.gosper@lismore.nsw.gov.au to book or discuss access requirements. 

This workshop is part of our Science week program Dark Science: New Moon. 

Karma Barnes is a interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Tamaki Makaurau, New Zealand who lives and works on Bundjalung Country, Northern Rivers. Her art encompasses site-specifc installations, painting, and participatory practices. With a focus on engaging communities, Karma's large-scale projects involve collaboration. For the past 15 years, she has explored pigments and soils, examining the critical connections between people and the land. Her work has reached a wide audience, with exhibitions across Australasia, Europe, Asia, and the USA, engaging over 15,000+ participants. Karma's art explores how creativity can aid communities in processing and understanding themselves during times of crisis and change. She delves into the relationships between nature, culture, and human experiences, drawing inspiration from the cycles of life, death, creation, and destruction. Through primal elements and impermanence, her work investigates how internal andexternal encounters shape and transform us.