Finalist in the Northern Beaches Book Awards 2025
This book emerged from my journey to Tasmania and the profound impact the Bay of Fires had on me. Inspired by its breathtaking scenery and dramatic landscapes, I created a series of quick paintings that later became the foundation for this piece.
Inside, you’ll find a poem I wrote alongside pages crafted from plaster and eco-dyed fabrics, made using leaves I gathered from the area. The trinkets and natural elements—discovered while foraging along the ocean’s edge—are carefully secured with wax, preserving their beauty and significance.
This is my artistic reflection of this moody and dreamlike landscape.
Throughout my wonderings of The Bay of Fires in Tasmania I created several painting depicting my version of this stunning location. Reducing these images onto the bandage pages and using foliage from the area to create the eco dyed pages in-between. I gathered small trinkets and memories, weaving them into an artistic reflection of this moody and dreamlike book.
The Bay of Fires is a competition finalist in 2022 Bangles with a prize of AU$2300. Submitted eco dyed scarves and eco dyed books are for sale in the Manly Art Gallery and Museum.
Bay of Fires
Through the Bay of Fires I roam,
A journey carved south of home.
Pristine sands and waters clear,
Turquoise waves lure me near.
Bright lichen burns in red and gold,
On rugged boulders, strong, and old.
This untamed bay, both fierce and free,
A moody, dreamlike tapestry.
In daylight’s dance, the colours change,
I do believe nature arranged.
My spirit cast through fire and sea,
A timeless moment, bound to me.
In wild awake, no soul can tame,
My purpose stoked by bay’s bright flame.
- A Poem by Heidi Lee Warta