Work on the Wilkinson’s

The five and a half metre canvas lived between the vine rows on the Wlikinson’s vineyard for three and a half weeks during September 2015. It tracked the movement and work on the farm during that time. The canvas was walked on, sprayed numerous times, with fungicide and fertiliser, rained on and irrigated with sprinklers twice a week. Tractors, trailers, motor bikes and utilities drove on it. It experienced a mulcher and an irrigated mini post-hole digger. It took part in pruning, winding on the canes, fixing the wires, welding supports for the covers, grubbing out dead rootlings, planting and training new rootlings, tying string onto root stock, adding vine guards and dis-budding shoots.

Over time, as the marks began to build, the men began to ‘own’ the marks. In a light-hearted way they contemplated the quality of the marks, ‘yarned’ about the making and, at times, they ‘consciously’ performed the mark making. One time, Peter the owner, irrigated the canvas with sprays of mud using his mini post-hole digger and sprinkler attachment (used for flooding the planting holes), and Rick cleaned his hands by flicking mud onto the canvas in between planting the new vines. Both men had anticipated and planned their actions. They were delighted to be called, ‘performance artists’.