Sep 26, 20182 min read

Melomy's Wetlands residency

Updated: Sep 8, 2019

One week in November was given to daily immersion in Melomy's wetlands. Heavy rainfall made for magical transformation of the site, and beguiling suggestions of how we should proceed.

Last year it was the fires. This year, here other significant weather events altered, directed, guided our theatre of play considerably during the November residency. Principally, the rain. The shallow and not so shallow dips in the groves where we worked filled with water. Small things got washed away, other things floated; nest like hollows became basins, tubs of black reflective water, where tree reflections plunged into another realm. The rain also showed us something about the tides down here. The water that we edged had remained low all week. It didn’t matter what the time of day, it never seemed to stretch into the grassy edges like it had done earlier in the year. Now, after the rain, it was full and brimming, lapping at the trees, seeping up through the peat. But it was only shin deep, all the way across to the mangrove island that broke away south of our limits, and protected our secrets from the open. In other words, the water here was half tide, half lake, and how this was worked out I still have no idea. New wonders were opening up every day.

The open day saw of island folk making their way down the long sandy track to the hidden surprises of the forest. It is not so easy to reach, or to find. One visitor, who came by bicycle, carried his transport waist deep through swamp waters. Still, it is that kind of place that can remain hidden despite living here for many years. There are no signs - except the ones we put out for the day - and the entry to our part of the forest was marked by Sarsha and Sandy’s beautiful stick arch and fence way that directed visitors through the least boggy path. It was an afternoon of enchantment. New friends, rich conversation and a delicious lunch.