June Golland

Born: Orange, NSW

Lives and Works: Bathurst, NSW

Artist Statement

Your one wild and precious life, 2023

Artificial flowers, wire and hot glue

“I was eight when our Ford Falcon hit a kangaroo. My siblings and I had been on high alert looking out the windows for wildlife. The moment stayed with me.

The roads that carve through regional Australia are treacherous — not only for drivers but for the multitude of non-human lives that cross them. Roadside memorials, with their artificial flowers and crosses, mark where human lives have been lost, but no such markers exist for the countless animals killed — the kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, and birds. Their deaths go unmarked.

Now installed on a manicured oval in a regional showground, this work remains conscious of its surroundings. Before the land became lawn this place would have been home to wildlife, kangaroos, and others.

Borrowing its title from Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day, this work pays tribute to the creatures whose lives end without ceremony. A small act of remembrance for those we don’t usually mourn and a quiet protest against the forgetting that so often follows the human desire for progress.”

About the Artist

June Golland is a multidisciplinary artist based in Bathurst who works at the intersection of craft and sculpture. Her practice uses expanded drawing and site-specific installation to create large-scale works, often centring on the themes of love and loss. She is a founding member of WAYOUT artist collective in Kandos and co-founded Groundfloor, a biennial arts forum for regional artists. June presented work for Cementa Festival in 2015 and 2024 before joining the Cementa Inc. board in 2025. Past group exhibitions include Curiouser and Curiouser (2018) and West of Central (2023) at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and With Every Breath (2019) and Occupied (2020) at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre. June is currently working with Orange Regional Gallery as an artist educator.

June will also be part of our Artist Panel at 2pm on Saturday 14 June in the Berry School of Arts. Tickets: $10. More info and tickets: https://www.openfield.org.au