Pippin Drysdale Wolfe Creek Crater installation

The grandeur of remote Western Australia has been a source of inspiration to Pippin Drysdale for decades. In her recent work, her attention has shifted from the vastness of land, water and sky to the subtleties of nature’s small and wonderful details.

Drysdale was drawn to interpret Wolfe Creek Crater, or Kandimalal to the Jaru people, for its ecosystem, which has evolved over 120,000 years since the moment of meteorite impact. Containing seasonal water, the rocky crater is a habitat for precious wildlife, which Drysdale distils in her abstract sculptural forms.

‘Working collaboratively with my dear friend and thrower, Warrick Palmateer, I turned to my memories of Wolfe Creek,’ says the first-time Wynne finalist. ‘Within the crater are brown ringtail dragons, whose colours can range from orange to pale beige with yellow on the underbelly, and butterflies such as the Glasswing or Spotted Dusky Blue, with their fluttering, glistening wings. The elusive Major Mitchell cockatoos are residents of the crater and are a stunning sight in flight against a backdrop of red rocks and blue skies. All in all, it is a raw and rugged environment.’