Interviewing Bridget Hillebrand | A story about exploring nature and technique

Hello Bridget, first I would like to start from your biography and the beginning of your career. How did you first get involved in the world of art? Was there a particular moment or experience that made you realize that an artistic career would be a fundamental part of your life?

I am an interdisciplinary artist based in Melbourne, Australia and completed my PhD at Monash University, (AUS) and a Master of Arts (Fine Art) from RMIT University, (AUS). My artworks have developed through a variety of forms including print, audio, video, art objects and installations. My PhD provided time and focus to develop a series of work inspired by my experiences with landscape. This process encouraged me to articulate my thoughts and reflections, which, in turn, enriched my understanding and experiences in numerous ways. Ongoing research on ecological themes stimulates my interests to further challenge and explore the corporeal and spatial aspects of my work. It also enhances the kinaesthetic nature of my creative research to further explore an interactive engagement between viewer and artwork.

The interview

Your recent project, River, which was exhibited during Arte Laguna Prize exhibition, reflects on human impact on shifting ecological systems. What messages do you hope to convey through your work regarding the connection between art and ecological awareness?

Drawing on a range of innovative techniques using handmade washi paper, relief printing and audio, River is an ambitious site-specific installation and soundscape, informed by the changing ecology of Birrarung (Yarra River) that winds its way through northeast Victoria, Australia. Indigenous Australians, the Wurundjeri people call the Yarra River Birrarung, translated as river of mists. The landscape of the Birrarung has changed dramatically over the years. Its course has been progressively disrupted and widened in places. Today Birrarung’s environmental health is at risk due to pollution and urban development.

‘River’ was first exhibited in 2023 in Melbourne, Australia as part of the Birrarung Riverfest. A month-long community celebration to promote river connection and care. It was launched on World Rivers Day which focused on the crucial role rivers play in sustaining life.  Combined with a soundscape recorded from specific sites along the Birrarung, the viewer is invited into an intimate and constructed realm to contemplate our place and responsibility within local living systems.  Moving through the immersive and sensory installation, folded, crumpled and layered printed washi paper imitate the crests and troughs of an ancient waterway and repetitive printed marks suggest refraction of light, mist and shadow. ‘River’, like many of my recent works, offers an opportunity for sustained interaction and poetically reveals the textural and printed qualities of my creative process while suggesting the transience and fragility of natural habitats as sites of contemplation.

Bridget Hillebrand at Arsenale Nord, Venice for Arte Laguna Prize (2024)

Being a finalist in the 19th Edition of Arte Laguna Prize and having the opportunity to exhibit in Venice is a significant achievement. How did it felt to know that your work River was being recognized on such an international stage, and what did this opportunity mean to you both as an artist and as someone whose work reflects on ecological themes?

As an artist that reflects on ecological themes I was very appreciative of the opportunity for my work ‘River’ to be seen by a new audience. Exhibiting internationally can create awareness, stimulate dialogue about environmental stability and provide opportunities for future collaborations and exhibitions.  I look forward to developing new international projects in the future.

How would you describe the process through which you translate your physical and emotional experiences into tangible works of art?

I often create location-inspired work and engage in immersive residencies and site-related projects utilising print, audio, video, art objects and installations.  My art practice involves traversing areas of bushland and remote landscapes to engage and explore personal, cultural and environmental histories echoing the symbiotic relationship we have with an enduring natural world and our ephemeral place within it.  My visual research explores the relationship between the physicality of making images as a response to the corporeal dimension of the experience of place. My bodily engagement is fundamental to my experience of place.

I am interested in the way my work is experienced physically and visually, and attempt to delay the speed at which they are viewed so that the experience of looking takes the form of a genuine physical response.  Just as the dynamics of the natural environment reveal spaces beyond it surface contours my installations expose openings and hidden surfaces that engage the moving viewer. Our world is not based on cognition or intellect alone, but is also grounded in our awareness as bodies: bodies that move and feel sensations.

Focusing on a responsive, meditative and experimental practice, I seek opportunities to push the boundaries of traditional printmaking methods and explore the unique sculptural potential of washi paper by developing innovative printing techniques and methods to create large-scale constructed paper works that reflect upon human impact on shifting ecological systems. The surface of my printed works are tactile, folded, layered, torn, stitched and reprinted. My works are highly personal, poetic, meditative responses, which bear witness to the experience of my existence in the natural world.

River artwork at Arsenale Nord, Venice for Arte Laguna Prize (2024)

River artwork at Arsenale Nord, Venice for Arte Laguna Prize (2024)

The contest was created to give a launchpad for the career of many emerging artists all over the world, and this is exactly what Arte Laguna wish to you. Do you think that this experience could have helped you being recognized more? Do you have future projects to share with us?

Presenting my work at the Arsenale Nord in Venice was a wonderful opportunity to gain international recognition and visibility and to connect with new audiences. It was also inspiring to meet so many talented international artists and to hear their stories. I am currently exhibiting work at ‘The Ecologies Project’ Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (AUS) where I will be presenting an artist talk on 31 January 2025. The curated group exhibition looks at generational conversations about changing climate and its impact on us individually and on our culture more broadly. I am also excited to announce that ‘River’ will be exhibited in a new iteration at Shepparton Art Museum (AUS) later this year. My solo exhibition ‘Into the Deep’ at Latrobe Regional Gallery (AUS) is also planned for 2025. Through research, embodied engagement and creative interpretation I aim to draw attention to the shifting ecology of our deepest waters.

Bridget was recently selected as the Australian Commissioner for the 12th Ulsan International Woodcut & Linocut Print Festival in South Korea, 2024. She has also received a number of awards, including winner of the 2021 Experimental Print Prize at Castlemaine Art Museum, Victoria. Her work is represented in over 40 major public collections in Australia and internationally including the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of NSW, and Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum Chiang Mai, Thailand.