“Mountains and Streams emerge from me. And I, from mountains and streams.”
- Daoji (1642-1708)

“The philosophical act is not situated merely on the cognitive level, but on that of the self and of being.”
- Pierre Hadot (1922-2010)

This exhibition is about the River Bremer and the catchment through which it flows, a catchment of old mountains and streams. The river has many tributaries and two named mountains, Mount Barker and Mount Beevor.

The works shown by me are my response to being with, and occasionally in the river over a period of years. Most of the paintings were done in the open air or, begun in the open air and completed in the studio. Those works are distinct from the studio works which reference human presence and form. At times the river becomes a metaphor for human life. The films however aim to be transcendent by excluding or minimizing human presence and culture.

All the works exhibited by me here were made between 2021 and 2025 but they are part of a thirty-year practice of being in and working with nature. Often that has meant taking a day each week to set off for the Adelaide Hills with Steve Leishman (1994 – 2017) and Ian Hamilton (2010 to the present) to spend an afternoon drawing and painting in the long paddock alongside a dirt road amongst remnant native vegetation.

No drawings or paintings from my outdoor practice have previously been exhibited.

Over the years I have come to view this practice as being both artistic and philosophical.

Philosophical because it is a practice that aims to transform my way of seeing the world and my way of being.

My experience is my own but it has long been said that there are insights to be had by being with nature. It has been said for example that the contemplation of nature confirms the connectedness of all things. That is a concept that can be comprehended intellectually but also something that can occasionally be experienced and felt. Nature contemplating nature.

Artists have an additional reason to be in and with nature and that is their ability to respond and give expression to their experience. Nature expressing nature.

The works exhibited by me here were done for “love”. The love of nature and being with nature, the love of art and the love of philosophy. They are not signed or titled nor are they offered for sale.

Bill Morrow
2025