Neil Haddon After the burn, Mt Nelson (a new landscape emerges)

About 18 months ago I was on my way to my studio at Mt Nelson on the outskirts of Hobart. The local volunteer fire fighters were conducting a hazard-reduction burn in the bush adjacent to the studio and wouldn’t allow me to pass. This painting looks back at this event.

The painting shows ‘high vis’ figures as they move in and out of a barely defined, smoke-shrouded landscape. The ‘new landscape’ alluded to in the title refers to the hazy, disorientating environment of the recently finished burn – a landscape that is difficult to place.

- Neil Haddon