Shonah Trescott, ‘Ashes’, birds 1-7, Bushfire Ash on paper, 42cm x 29.7cm (each), 2021, Photography by Osvaldo Budet 

Trescott's work was created as a requiem for the animals lost through the 2019–20 bushfires and unabated environmental barbarism. Ghostly silhouettes of native mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, fish and amphibians referencing early Australian colonial illustrations are suspended in space, drawn directly on paper with ash collected from the Mid-North Coast bushfires in 2020. Presented in a cross formation the static ashen bodies form a silent mass for the dead, a solemn plea to move towards a new ethic.