Kath Hastings, Artist, Writer - Australia

GRANTHAM BRIDGE Grantham Bridge was the saving grace of many of the inhabitants of Grantham that January. One farmer had seen the approach of the giant wave coming across the sodden paddocks from the direction of Murphy's Creek. He ran to Grantham village to alert as many of the inhabitants as possible to run to safety and then made ready his boat. He knew a flash flood was approaching. Inhabitants who could, ran towards the railway line and the accompanying railway bridge being the most elevated parts of Grantham. The railway bridge led to the highest part of town where the school and several other houses were situated. In one case, a woman was pulled on to the bridge as she tried to escape the deluge. Cars, and the flotsam from homes, farms, cars, livestock was either washed through the erstwhile roadway or piled up under the bridge. By the next day, news helicopters filmed many aspects of the bridge...a dead black bull wedged amongst the myriad items and bric-a-brac stuck on top...

The first image is rather like a medieval icon. The aged wood comes from a food safe owned once by my great uncle and hence very, very old. I worked with pure pigments and gold leaf to create iconic images   I saw these wonderful (to me as an artist) piles of toxic drums at Murrarie in the late 90's. Yes! Last century! They were in pile upon pile awaiting their final trip to Victoria where they were to be destroyed and their toxicity eradicated (hopefully) forever. What they had contained could perhaps be determined by a forensic expert but their contents and man had certainly made a spectacular display of colour and mystery graffiti upon them. Nowdays, drums seem to come in the plastic variety. Only shipping containers can rival the colours and complexity of these now long dead drums. I have, perhaps, feminized them somewhat..seen stained glass windows and feminine form. This work was done for the first year of my Master's Degree, Monash University, 2002. I share them wi...

In case you can't read this (probably not!!) I shall take an ego trip and copy it out. It's nice to hear back one's one thoughts and words. Written by Fiona Purdon. Being caught in January's 'inland tsunami' has had a lasting effect on one Brisbane artist, writes Fiona Purdon Artist Kath Hastings thought she was going to die when she was stuck in her car surrounded by fast flowing water during the Toowoomba floods in January. Hastings, who is from Brisbane but was attending an art course in Toowoomba, eventually made it home safely. She was so traumatised by her experience and by watching the news of the Grantham tragedy that she was driven to paint the scenes. The Her Beauty and Her Terror exhibition of 21 paintings, including several depicting the Queensland floods, will be held at the Art discount Warehouse, 34 Arthur St, Fortitude Valley, over six days from November 11. "I remember the teeming rain, it was pelting down...the roads were impassable,...