Making Ink from Fire

Abstract

Two artists from opposite sides of the globe tackle the same issue of wildfires. Mara Cozzolino from Italy and Jacqueline Gribbin from Australia started working on projects about dealing and living with wildfires and bushfires in 2021. Without prior knowledge of each other’s projects, they started experimenting with making ink from the charcoal of burnt trees in their living areas. Both full-time printmakers discovered each other’s projects through a mutual friend. They began exchanging ideas about the experiments, their gained knowledge, and expertise in making their ink. By meeting online, they shared their progress, inspiring and influencing each other.

Making ink from fire brings attention to the dramatic climate changes that continue to endanger life on the planet and highlights the importance of respect for a diminishing and affected environment. This project produced a series of black-and-white prints and short films. Mara Cozzolino focused on portraying 20 single trees burnt down in the devastating wildfires in 2017, making ink from the charred bark of the same trees she was portraying. Jacqueline Gribbin explored her local area with First Nations artist Dennis McCarthy (Murrwurruwurr) and collected charcoal for making ink from the bush, slowly depleted by an ever-increasing number of fires. Her prints portray the post-fire landscape.

Both artists use the medium of Mokuhanga, a low-toxic, environmentally friendly printmaking technique that uses wood, water, handmade paper and pigment and is particularly suited to depicting nature, which is the source of their expression and which they are strenuously trying to defend.