Jo Bertini Mound spring

This mound spring was suspended high in an isolated, rocky escarpment between the sand dunes of the central Simpson Desert. A source of permanent water and an Aboriginal sacred site, littered with Indigenous cultural material and ancient relics, as well as flora and fauna species, it is a secret treasury of desert history.

As an expedition artist, I explore remote desert wilderness, places that go beyond boundaries of understanding of landscape, archived ideas and scientific knowledge. Perhaps in the complex, symbiotic, transformative nature of these places, integrated by the artist’s eye, new ways to bring aesthetics and understanding about the land into some meaningful alignment can be discovered.

- Jo Bertini, 2015