Artist Statement My artwork is based on the tracks and trails made by one of our most ancient creatures, the iron-jawed borers of the Longicorn beetle - as they gnaw their shallow looping paths along fallen timber in the South Australian mallee. I seek out these intricately engraved logs and make graphite rubbings on paper, then apply botanical watercolour paints which I make from a range of mallee plants. By the time I make the rubbings, the borers have completed their engravings, turned into beetles and vanished from the scene. I try to find a logic in the design, a 'pattern in the carpet' to be revealed as I apply the botanical inks and watercolours distilled from mallee foliage - from quandong and eucalyptus to bluebush and broom. I began with rather small rubbings, say 30x20cm, but my most recent pieces are up to 2-3 metres in length, encompassing a multitude of tracks and figures. From ancient times almost every animal (ourselves included) has left trails of their presence. I like to think that my intervention lifts these engravings into consideration as unique form of artistic expression, centred in the ancient Australian landscape.