“My abstract artwork ‘Freeway’ was inspired by Vicroads - That’s got to be a first!”
“I had mixed feelings when I watched the Princes Highway upgrade works. Huge earthworks carved their way through the land as concrete and bitumen were laid down on what were green paddocks. The drive would be faster, but at what cost? Then I learned that this iconic road actually follows a traditional indigenous trading route from Warrnambool to Colac and beyond - and that VicRoads employed people to consider this history when they were planning their roads.
What seemed at first to be almost a violation, turned out to be just another road laid down on an old well-used pathway. All those feet and wheels were following the lines the land dictated, putting down layers upon layers of history on the same Freeway. The layered painting with its scratched and worn surface suggests constant movement through an ancient landscape.”
Deborah McSephney, 2019
