[00:00]
Caroline renner’s Burger you moved where I moved around a lot but the biggest city I’ve lived in and that was as a student was Vienna in my 20s and eventually after a lot of travel I ended up on bruny island. Okay. So you lived and studied in Vienna very hustle bustle European city. What’s it like now living in such an isolated Place basically an island off an island off an island. Yeah, so we don’t have trams we don’t have acid rain. We don’t have pollution really we don’t have many people. I can’t remember what the population of Vienna is, but there’s fewer than a sale and I think the last cents is here on bruny. So it’s peaceful. It’s tranquil. It’s beautiful and there are trees everywhere a member in Vienna. We couldn’t see trees out of our apartment in Vienna and I always missed seeing
[01:00]
Trees, so I suppose here. I see lots of trees and mountains and as an artist, how does sense of place inform your work? And do you see it changed depending on where you are placed as an artist, my work’s always been about contemporary landscape about the landscape and about the shifting and changing forms.
[01:22]
And that comes through very strongly Herobrine bruny Island because I look across the water and the mountains and if you think about time being not a Continuum but a layering of events over time. I don’t know it sounds a bit weird, but happening at the same time. That’s what I almost experienced its phenomenological. So it’s an experience of the landscape rather than just a picture of it. I think it was Suzanne or power. Can’t remember who said the landscape thinks itself in me something like this and I’m its Consciousness. So it’s a little bit egocentric. I think when you say the landscape thinks so self in me, but there’s a certain degree of Truth in that I think for a lot of artists who come to bruny Island not that many come but I think that’s the key part of the poetic of Bruni to use a slightly cliche term you no longer at the
[02:23]
Center of the work that you’re making the work makes you in a way bruny island itself is such an isolated place. We haven’t spoken to you our first Tasmanian that we’ve spoken to what was the reason that you found yourself in bruny island in the first place. It’s such a holiday Place how first connected with that we had thought of bruny Island as a destination to live permanently, but we came here on holiday and had a completely I don’t know transcendental sort of experience being here. There was a block of land for sale and we’d never thought we was Waterfront, but we did that was one of our main criteria. We wanted to walk up front and we thought now we’re not going to live here to remote and then the person selling the block of land happened to be the neighbor.
[03:18]
On the Block and they were really amazing people and I thought wow that’s good. So we went away to France and we thought about it for about 30 seconds and then we rang up that okay. Well buy it.
[03:31]
Not ever having built before or having a clue about what we’re going to do or how this is all going to happen other than you could get to an airport within about two hours and to Hope about within about an hour. So if I had worked to do because I was exhibiting in different parts of Australia, you know, I could live on bruny island and still get my work out to where it had to go. The main thing was we fell in love with the place. It’s very quickly shade. It was simply, you know, love at first sight on suppose. It’s kind of like I was thinking about it this morning. It’s kind of like when you make a painting
[04:12]
And you lose yourself in that painting and then you reach the end point people tried to describe it, but I don’t think it’s really possible. You kind of know when a work is resolved and you have that sense of completeness.
[04:26]
And sort of utter contentment and sort of strange pleasure thats what Bruni felt like a few years ago. We had a lunch with a few fairly high-profile artists some one or two of them live here and we talked about why we’re on bruny and what is it and no one could actually answer the question other than to say, you know, you were remote and isolated. So I love that those being remote isolated would draw cards not actually deterrents. If you are other people in the creative space that we’ve spoken to as well actually love the fact that being away from the mainland or away from like in your case, but away from cities actually enables them to be closer to Nature and and draw on inspiration. Tasmania is a very different environment to a lot of the places that we’ve actually researched we
[05:26]
the stories that we’re doing so I’m interested. Can you describe the environment that you live in from its physical kind of point of view? Um, it’s philosophical more than tangible. I mean tangible things for everyone can sort of experience the wind, you know, the touched Sensations the audio like you hear the wind you hear the ocean. We have a lot of visitors to the island and I think
[05:55]
What moves them the most is actually an absence.
[05:59]
Of what they know you may move into a space that’s not a built environment. So it’s almost the opposite and people I think people come here and they have that.
[06:10]
Oh experience of nothingness. They’re almost stopped in their tracks by the environment. It’s something a lot of people just haven’t experienced before you see a mountain that you’ve never seen before. It might be snow cap or framed by a beautiful sunset we Face Westchester. So we got all the sunsets and we look at mountains across the water, you know, like me I sit in my studio and I look out the windows pretty safe. And when I’ve got the fire going but we’ve got Arctic winds blasting at us and we’ve got um, sometimes we’ve got huge ways that keep crashing on the foreshore.
[06:52]
So there’s all those things that are utterly spectacular.
[06:57]
And they create a sense of awe in people. So I think I think it’s more the sensation of a whole series of events that impact on an individual. So you’re you’re part of that, you know, it’s not just Wilderness. It’s just it’s an inhabited space that’s bigger than who we are from the philosophical to the geographical. It is almost the final frontier when you look towards, you know, like at the base of Australia over here wearing wa so Albany sort of this other most point and that’s got a very specific feel about that environment because it is the last point of land before you had to Antarctica. How does that actually impact your day-to-day in terms of just practically people don’t make a big fuss about it, but the winds in my opinion anyway, they’re like, it can be almost like chronic so that they remind me of being Darwin when a
[07:57]
Line heat similar winds hit the house here because we Face we’re on the water. So we looked South to basically the Antarctica if we have really good eyesight. And then we look North and we can see Mount Wellington in Hobart. And then we look West and we see all the mountains. So we get the complete full force of the weather here and the house does shape. So when it when it gets some windy if it’s a Westerly a Windows can sum up their can break if it’s a southerly South Westerly then the whole house shapes. Normally we’re a bit protected from the normies, but and even the very almost never stops from going across the channel, so I think tasmanians
[08:44]
Just accepted but a few years ago just before covid hit we were going to go and live in Europe for a while. And so I converted my studio in to accommodation and then we couldn’t go because of covid and in the end we thought what the heck will do Airbnb.
[09:05]
And we had guests. I remember one of our guests stayed we were in Hobart at the time and she called some neighbors got their alarm going and I thought that’s where nobody’s got an alarm on really and I thought who Could That Be what is that? Anyway, it was a bird and I got my neighbor to come over and check it out. And because people have City lives and said of thinking it could be a bird and this is all the different type of bird call. They thought they were absolutely convinced. It was an alarm and I was really mortified that their peaceful Tranquility was just a month’s alarm. You know, this is weird. But when I told her she couldn’t believe it she thought no that can’t that’s not a bird. It was a bird. We have what wallabies they eat and she pairs, you know, they come they’re quite tame visitors always want to see the white wallabies that people feed them. So they become quite tame we have
[10:05]
Opossums everywhere. We’ve got horribly enormous tiger snakes. They Slither around quite a bit and you just have to be aware of it. But I mean snakes are everywhere in Australia, but but it does get very warm the skies really clear and the sun’s really hot. So when it hits 30 people feel really really hot and we rarely get to 40, but we had high 30s this year and it was too hot for most people. I remember stepping off the plane.
[10:39]
And the crisp fabulous beautiful even in an airport because they don’t have an average. You just get that difference that that that that that Christmas Purity. I suppose that
[10:53]
When you come back from a big city like Melbourne or Sydney, that’s the first thing you notice when you get off the plane. So yeah, that’s a lovely thing to come home to it’s something that sort of becomes synonymous with Tasmania in kind of recent years this sort of sense of Purity this incredible Hub of produce, you know, like makers and Bakers and and oysters and a very like, I guess a Hospitality experience where the provenance is just as is very close to the actual food itself. It’s that the same on bruny island. Yeah. I mean, I’ve always like to cook but when we came here you make friends pretty quickly here and there’s a really well known. There’s a couple of really well-known musicians here on Brittany. And anyway one guy. I’m particular used to just come to our place and get some Abalone off the front of our property the people that set up get shot. It’s really well nine. It’s a nice to play. They young couple.
[11:53]
They then sold it but they would get Abalone and that have a barbecue and you you just slice it up and have it barbecued with I think he put a bit of garlic on it or something. And then there was another thing this is a little bit controversial because Fish Farms aren’t very popular in Tasmania, but I remain neutral and that subject there was always a thing with seals. I don’t know if Mainland is here about it, but still breaking into Nets.
[12:18]
And then there’s an escape and then thousands and thousands of salmon get out. So everyone gets their boats and goes off throws the net so if they’re allowed to and catch all these salmon and then you have a smoker so everyone’s got a smoke. Okay here, we’ve got a big smoker and then you smoke it and you eat smoked salmon for weeks on end or it goes in the fridge or something. So and John big plug for a friend John Bullock the bruny baker. He’s a real foodie and he limits his efforts at this point to bread and I think other pastries and things and he has very well known and has on a couple of fridges on the side of the road and and it’s an honesty box and people go and line up and get the bread. There’s Nick haddo with the chick with brie, and I think it’s called Brittany Island cheese company or we call it the cheese. Then there’s a One Winery with Bernice.
[13:18]
And Old Well, Dylan, actually Bernie still in changed her name. Anyway, that’s established the winery with the produce just as an aside. There’s a little island off Alana near us and because there’s no fresh water here or very limited there’s some Subterranean water like a boar at Adventure Bay, which is about 20 minutes from here. But otherwise everyone has to supply their own water. Absolutely everybody. So we have lots of ranting
[13:50]
and suddenly Island had no water. So Bernice who runs the winery her father got a track tractor and when under the water so decent tracker. This is so goes the story. I think she told this at his funeral actually in her own cracked up, but when under the water with his tractor and had a hose attached to it from some source of freshwater and took it over to satellite Island, and apparently he must have had autism and everything you said underwater driving this tractor until he got onto satellite Islands. So, you know, people are pretty Innovative in surviving here. But yeah just about everybody’s huge foodie and I used to make just about everything’s people make relishes everyone grows zucchini. So everyone makes zucchini slice in the summer and coming out of yours and Summit whereby go you eat zucchini.
[14:48]
It’s a huge foodie place and when my family’s been over here that just been there a little bit taken aback by how everyone Cooks all the time and how food is such an integral part and how produce and brunie was. In fact, like the rest of Tasmania. There was a lot of fruit growing here was a huge industry and that used to The Orchards to support lots of families here and that’s all shifted now because the fruit industry no longer exists here. Although there are some people are growing berries like shifted to tourism the food things stayed and the the projects everything that notion of making things from scratch and growing your own that still there people’s life who could just adapted to just different ways of living I suppose how lucky to have such delicious things right at your fingertips.
[15:44]
cheese oysters wine or
[15:48]
this that it just salmon so delicious.
[15:52]
So the tourism industry which you’ve just talked about sees bruny Island sort of swell and expand seasonally.
[16:00]
Can you please talk to us about your experience of the impact of Tourism? And also there’s always that idea that you know tourists are very annoying. You know, they come into the town and people run away from them.
[16:12]
What are some of the benefits of Tourism for the local economy or for the day-to-day experience outside of the seasonal periods for bruny Island? I think that depends on what sort of Tourism you’re talking about. I mean if we talk about the tools that people do they’re different they they come and they have a brief experience and they go they might go around the island in a boat or they might and we don’t have a lot we don’t see them much and they’re very self-contained and there’s been more and more of those boosts tools happening. It’s since we’ve lived here. I think we bought the land and about 2009 or 10 or something. So the tourism industry is huge like it there weren’t really that many tourists here when we first moved here’s
[17:06]
really huge people that stay
[17:11]
It’s almost like I mean I’m talking about I suppose to people who stay and look at a painting artists love that people who connect with the painting people who try to understand the place and I think tourists who start up a conversation on that note a few years ago. We were funded to bring residents were funded to to develop information for tourists to give them a sense of that a lot of people live here and that there’s a rich fabric of society and people have a lot of interesting stories to tell and come and stay and come and speak to some of the people and hear their stories and that some of the good experience of an exchange in a way and finding out what other people do that’s the positive because of the population here is you know, a lot of people are retired. There are a few people here who are more and more
[18:11]
Are coming over to live here and work but the Hub the tourism hubs like the cheese or get chucked they often have to bring in people to work because there aren’t enough people on bruny who can fill those jobs those places don’t really have a lot to do with the residents of bruny Island. I think I think the interesting thing in terms of Tourism for the residents and again, I’m sort of making it a lot more personally when when we’ve run residencies and people I keep quiet because like it, you know billions of emails and phone calls, but when we run residencies or fellowships, the people are amazing that you meet and now I wouldn’t call them tourists but they’re visitors and they really engage and that they’ve got fabulously interesting backgrounds and Australian from Queensland actually called Sam necessary Sam who lives in New York.
[19:10]
All came here for a brief residency that our foundation funded. Well, actually we supported by Parks and Wildlife and various other organizations. We ran these residencies in Sam came over and it’s something that similar to what Moines has done before he put electrodes he went into the national one of the national parks here on bruny and basically got the ferns to sing and the trees to sing and so he’s a very very talented musician who teaches it Julia and is the most amazing lovely person and anyway as a result of his visit to bruny. We then collaborated on another project that became sort of based on Sam’s project and art with my visual arts background. We ended up making glass house Arcadia. So that was a beautiful collaboration. So I think it’s a bit of a long-winded answer but I think the people that come here and want to experience Bruni over a day or two or a week.
[20:11]
Or even a month and they bring so much and you learn so much and you exchange. I think that that’s what really fabulous about visitors to the island. And that’s what we want to nurture more. I think rather than just a quick day visit. You don’t really get that sense of all that I was talking about before you don’t get a connection with the place. It’s almost like you took it off your bucket list.
[20:37]
Whereas think for a real true visitor experience that also the residents really appreciate is when you stay for a bit longer and you really love the place and you don’t just see it and check it off, you know your list.
[20:52]
Yeah, it’s a conversation that we’re exploring a lot within this because the interplay between the word tourist visitor and then I suppose for everyone that we’re talking to they initially came to be in the places. They are as a visitor and everyone’s got a different take on when their status is blow in or visitor or tourist converts into residents. Yeah within bruny Island. How long does it take to earn your stride as a resident? And is it because and this is I love to talk about these but you know, you’ve contributed so much with the the bruny island Foundation. Like is it is it actually giving back to the community is that when you become a part of the fabric and and that changes what what do you think for your perspective? Well, but the demographic here is, you know, tiny pockets of very very
[21:45]
The royalty other people who were born here and there is a group of Aboriginal people here who owned a farm called murrayfield. There’s not a lot of presents here. There are obviously people here who who live here and from this region that’s more and more prominent. Now, I suppose and and plays much more important role than in 50 years ago or 100 years ago a much stronger awareness that the other people
[22:19]
Who weren’t born here?
[22:22]
Aren’t quite blowing but they’re even if you do a lot for the community, you gonna respect I suppose and I’m involved in the Arts and my husband is on he’s on for every committee. You can be on and where also on the whole committee and we renovated this beautiful iconic Hall in the middle of Alana using fantastic architect Chris Clinton in town and that was renovated. And so we were we were involved in quite a few projects and a few years ago when cloudy Bay was on fire on Christmas day everyone got a vacuum to a lawn or Hall which is that the point, you know, if there’s a bush fire and so because my husband are on the hall committee, we went there. We took her Christmas hand we gave that to everyone so that’s sort of the vibe of the community. You never really a bruny island unless you were born here and if you contribute a lot in the community that sort of what people do
[23:22]
you don’t earn Stripes because you do a lot for the community. It’s sort of like how the community is you’re either in it or you you’re not you’re better off being part of it because you have a better life. I suppose if you part of a community in a group and doing things interesting and fun and I suppose given that your geographically separated from Australia’s mainland.
[23:50]
That you would be thinking about links because you have to think about getting the fairy or taking a bridge.
[23:57]
And so that sort of idea of all the links and the connections that you’ve talked about in all the different people and the different things that they do and represent is fascinating when you situate that on an island, what’s it like this is just a very trivial question, but what’s it like to factor in fairies into your life and like putting your car on a ferry or Bridges and these are any kind of rivalry between the person on that side of the first sight like I’m just interested because it’s the fascinating part of what you have to consider in your day-to-day. Well, everyone has a different opinion about the fairy. There’s a Facebook Facebook group or really notice and occasionally people have a rant about the ferry and then it’ll go on and on and on and on and on and off if something goes wrong on the ferry, so mostly people want to make the best of it but for example, most people will have to go to bruny Once week. There’s one small.
[24:57]
Supermarket here these be another one a tiny one nearby that shut down that’s had a history starting and stopping over the years. Anyways, terminally shut down. So we go to I’m in Hobart bit more these days, but we go to brunette to Hobart at least.
[25:16]
Once a week to get groceries during covid. I think they used to come over here and bring a truckload of foot you could order it. And I think you still can order food and they’ll bring it over during covid. It was great here actually because didn’t feel like you’re in lockdown but because everyone has a bit of land basically you can walk around your garden, but in fact we had digressing here, but we had cocktails with our neighbor socially distancing. We sat out in the garden they sat out way in their garden and I suppose I was supposed to have done that too. But anyway, so they’ve recently built two new ferries their fastest. The old one was called the mirror and had two levels.
[25:58]
The two new ones are fast, and then they’ve got a third one called the Bowen that bit of an old girl, but she still going so on Pete days as 20 minutes turn around. So I’m Pete days. They run three fairy. We used to be able to get on a ferry in the morning and come home relatively easily in the evening, but now it’s harder and harder to pick a time when you can get off and on back on the island.
[26:32]
Um because of the tourism and a lot of people are bringing their enormous ribs their Caravans and they take a lot of room and there’s a lot of building construction on Bernie too. So off all roads you competing with the trucks and you’re competing with the buses. It’s harder and harder to pick a time when you don’t have to queue and residents have to queue like anyone else like if you turn up and unexpectedly there are you know, 100 people in front of you you start, you know, you can’t get home.
[27:08]
You just have to wait. You learn to time it so that you don’t queue or you try to and you you know, I’ve suggested think we they for privacy reasons, they won’t do it. But I suggest at a wet Camp. So residents could have a look and see what the cues like at the fairy. That’s a great idea. Yeah that hasn’t happened and the most popular thing about the ferry from the residents point of view is that you are separated. So you really are an island so they don’t want to bridge because they lose their you know, after 7:00. No one can get here. Yes, so they asked and had this space and their pros and cons with the Fairy like this.
[27:51]
Speaking of the strategy of the residents wanting to be able to live comfortably in the place that you live. What are some of the things that you do when the crowds do swell? Um, we don’t go anywhere.
[28:06]
You just have the roads because you’re aware that like they have been an accidents people don’t realize there’s one road. It’s called the main road bruny Island main road and it goes more or less from the ferry moralists all the way down to cloudy Bay Gibraltar take a few different names of the road. But basically it’s one main road and there’s almost no where to overtake this but two spots to say I take and visitors will sometimes in the drive very slowly and they look out the window all the beautiful landscape or they might stop fact that there was a dead there’s lots of dead wallabies on the road because at night there’s just so much Road kills pretty tragic.
[28:52]
So usually you can drive over them but sometimes that because you can’t if you’re doing 90k an hour, you can’t really swerve around a dead wallaby. It’s not really safe to do that. So you have to preferably clearance with your car so you can just drive over and not or else of an Echidna crosses the road. You don’t stop your car and get out and take a photograph. So your mindful of not being on the roads when there’s just a lot of people doing a lot of different things that you can understand people do it’s just it’s just they’re not familiar with the roads or the landscape and also the dirt roads can be pretty tricky if people aren’t used to driving on them. I mean, I we got a place as tourists somewhere. We we’re probably know we go to all the beautiful places and we don’t realize people live there’s some people don’t realize they’re a permanent residents on bruny and this is a home
[29:47]
And they’re astounded to to think that people actually pay they thought it was just a place for tourists. So yeah, they can be interesting wonderful people but the same time it’s all new territory and it’s a different it’s a whole different process for tourists than for residents. So we’re quite good friends with the Brittany Baker John and his partner Janine and they live nearby where on the cusp of shit Bush. So they live further bit further north very close because John’s such a foodie they would put on these dinners once every once a month every Friday called the long table dinner and was like a really really really really really really long table and they would have invite all their friends and we all sort of knew everyone knows everybody and you had certain groups of friends that you hang out with so we’d all bring some food and we would and
[30:47]
Wine gin sometimes she’s and stuff and we would yeah, we would just get together at each other’s houses. Yeah, another friend about who’s the dog sit for us a lot really amazing lovely person. We had a huge 50 years birthday party for my husband. We made. Oh, I can’t remember the products. She actually in Cochrane Bush one of those
[31:10]
Profiterole type cakes that mount up Mount up and up and up. Anyway. This is beautiful woman called Claudia. He used to run camel tools here. Actually. She’s an amazing amazing court. So she’d make beautiful cakes and everyone sort of pictures in and yeah, that’s what people do they just hang out. I think it’s no different from other cities I suppose but you don’t really go to restaurants. Yeah, you visit friends and have massive get together. Oh we once had so I’ve had exhibitions here. So I brought the community in and I’ve stayed EX
[31:46]
Missions before up shifted my own work, you know off to Melbourne or Sydney or somewhere and that was always nice and one year. We did something really naughty we had a tequila sunrise party as a breakfast on Christmas Eve and everyone had to kill the sun rises and porridge and stuff. So that went down pretty well pretty rockers. Oh Caroline, thank you so much the stories that you shared just so I honestly do feel like having a tequila sunrise breakfast with porridge. But also you’re such a highly regarded artist the role of Art and how vital it is to people understanding place and capturing place is critical, especially in the regions. But anyway in the world, I just like to kind of finish by learning a bit about bruny Island foundation and from your perspective why you think it is important to him about
[32:46]
Empower people in the Region’s with art and within opportunity to tap into their creativity to express their sense of self and sense of place. Yeah. I think that’s
[33:00]
really more and more
[33:00]
More you can go to art school and do phds and whatever but more and more you hear that art can be anything and I’m interested in exploring how that what that anything is with everyone. So anything with everyone we established burning Island foundation for the Arts and had I think the bruny island art prize in 2016. I’m represented by various galleries run Australia the range in a bit lately. But um, so we wanted to make that happen to other people and then so we had judges from for example Jared Rawlings promo. He’s one of the senior curated just completely amazing lovely people Liz Ann McGregor who used to run the museum contemporary out in MCA rocks and Sydney. She retarded couple years what an amazing these people just so amazing and Fiona Hall who she never remembered but she taught me for five minutes when I was doing my
[34:00]
Master’s once in Adelaide and I was so in all of her she’s just such a normal person but she represented Australia at the BNR. So she that those people were at judges at various times when we ran Presley’s and then we had beautiful lunches talked about most things other than art talk back guards and various things because life is just everything really and then we’ve had fantastic fellowships.
[34:28]
that was funded by really generous benefactor who owns a lot of property here called Brunello and Coastal Retreats or plug for them, but great people, but also I’ve come to a point where I want and I’ve run workshops across
[34:44]
A whole range of you know different sort of levels of experience some with none at all and and more and more. I’ve come to think that our place such a huge role in life other than looking at an artist painting but actually making itself and experience in that and our recent enrolled. I was gonna do out through a pretty therapy, but I just decided to enroll in Psychology but focused on the Arts as a not so much therapy, but just opening up every one just validating everyone’s search for that creative part of who they are and the anyone can make her heart and these people go. Yeah, I can’t draw or I can’t do this. Anyone can it’s just overcoming the trepidation of even just making a mark and there’s always research that shows how how hugely beneficial it can be so,
[35:44]
I think for me with moving forward with the foundation we’ve been talking about running events that bring in Specialists who can help facilitate that connection between art and mind. I suppose if you want to put it that way and making up not some sort of distant eyebrow thing but something that is all within us.
[36:09]
And is equaling valid and fun, too. I love it. Just like life on bruny island, which he described at the beginning of this interview in such a beautiful way describing, you know place as a concept as a whole which is just so interesting and then all I love that you can do it with a side of joy and fun with a tequila sunrise and some Abalone and some really good friends. So thank you so much for the talk today Caroline. It’s been absolutely wonderful chatting to you and hearing a bit about your life in Brunei Island. Thank you pleasure. Thank you so much.
