(Bark print #12), from the series Clearing

Simryn Gill’s 'Clearing' remembers a 110-year-old Canary Island date palm tree that was removed in 2020 to make way for the Art Gallery’s new building. A plan to transplant the tree to another location was abandoned due to its infestation by coconut weevils and unlikely chances of surviving the replanting.

Native to the Canary Islands off the north-western coast of Africa, these palms were once prized by horticulturists for their exotic and uniform appearance and their resilience. They were disseminated throughout the world along trade routes from the mid to late 19th century, including Australia, where they became a popular ornamental plant in parks and gardens, and later ubiquitous along streets. Today they are revered as a heritage tree, but also denigrated as an invasive species.

To aid her understanding of the date palm’s significance within this society, Gill made a graphite rubbing of the Art Gallery tree’s trunk. Later, when the tree was condemned, she continued to record various facets of it, with processes that included photogram imaging and various forms of printing, in an attempt at communicating with the tree.