With a large holding of early European and colonial works to post-colonial and contemporary landscapes, the works on display depict the landscape as a sublime and also a contested space.

The topic of landscape has fascinated artists for centuries, long before the invention of photography, artists were employed to topographically depict the land on paper and canvas.

This was very important in an era of colonialisation and integral to the early stages of Bendigo, where the decimation of the landscape paved the way for the gold rush era and formation of the town.

A closer look at the collection reveals that not all the early colonials ‘celebrated’ the decimation of the landscape and many – such as George Rowe – used their art as a means to critique it.

In his work The End of the Rainbow, Golden Square, (pictured) Rowe depicts life on the Bendigo goldfields, describing all at once the harsh degradation of the landscape and the life of the diggers spurred on in anticipation of prosperity. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Rowe conveyed a sense of empathy for the natural environment. 

Today, new voices have emerged to explore the landscape from environmental and political perspectives and with the advent of industrialisation and globalisation; the relationship between people and the environment is more complex than ever.

Amidst the collection’s colonial renderings by George Rowe, Walter Withers and Penleigh Boyd, contemporary artists such as Fiona Hall illustrate the relationship between consumerism and environmental devastation. Contemporary indigenous artists Brooke Andrew and Michael Cooke describe a lost country in their politically charged critique of colonialisation, while Rosemary Laing points out in her epic photographic rendering of an Australian detention centre, Welcome to Australia, issues of displacement and contested land still place landscape as a central theme of the modern world. Collective Vision launches on March 4.