XI. The other island, 2019
Once ranging from the Peak District, Channel Isles, English Midlands, and Loch Lomond, the Anglo-Celtic Isles were formerly home to numerous wallaby colonies. Many escapees of zoos, wildlife parks and private collections, others freed during WWI and WWII, literature of these wild wallabies and how they came to being is far and few between. The fate of such colonies, often plagued with health issues as a result of inbreeding, is typically unfavourable; most of which have since perished during colder than usual winters, or others butchered during WWI and WWII to feed troops. There are some places however, where populations of wallabies have adapted and steadily grown over the years; revealing the fluidity and flux of places and habitats, and the ability of certain species to negotiate and inform new island ecologies.
The other island is an ongoing research and practice-led project, centered on documenting colonies of wild Bennett Wallabies that inhabit the Anglo-Celtic Isles, such as those on the Isle of Man. Beyond the initial curiosity of Australian animals inhabiting a foreign landscape, the series speak of an improbable transposition and the cultural, social and political dimension embedded in such colonies, drawing on the manner in which the natural world has been ordered, displayed, organised, and ultimately produced.