Down Under
Down Under
Australian Artist And Poet Kirli Saunders Crosses Oceans, Forges Connections To Create Newest Denver Zoo Exhibit
By Mollie Barnes
GPHN Intern
Down Wallaby Way lives a pair of endangered Huon tree kangaroos named Tristan and Pearl and an albino wallaby named Marshmallow.
A pair of Southern cassowaries and an assortment of red-necked wallabies and red kangaroos are also part of the Denver Zoo’s new two-acre Down Under exhibit, which opened in May. The zoo’s horticulture team curated native Colorado species of plants, with water conservation in mind, while still maintaining the “look and feel” of Australia’s fauna.
Zoo officials cite Australian artist and poet Kirli Saunders for critical guidance, art, and connections in making the exhibit a reality. In 2022, Saunders received an invitation to collaborate with the zoo on the project. Relationships and collaborations with many others developed.
“We ended up working with multiple First Nations from Dijiru country and Yuin country,” said Saunders in an interview with the Greater Park Hill News. “It was a real treat to be able to expand this project to be not only an art engagement but a meaningful relationship and press collaboration between multiple First Nations people from Australia and the zoo.”
Saunders’s mural work utilizes pallets that mimic the land of Australia, consisting of a series of digital collages. The collages use watercolor, pencil, eucalyptus plant dye and digital painting. Saunders worked closely from Australia with the zoo’s digital design team in Denver while completing the work.
The digital team installed the artwork on vinyl at the zoo. Saunders attended the exhibit’s grand opening in person on May 24.
“The reception was really beautiful, we had so many people come out for both of the openings – the opening for the members and the public opening,” she said. “It’s been really special to walk through and see kids hopping along and observing the wallabies, and looking and commenting on all the colors, or trying to spot the tree kangaroo in their beautiful new exhibit.”
Beyond the visual symbolism of the artwork and the Australian land, Saunders said her artwork emphasizes a connection to Country, a reference to where we come from and who we are. Country is an inseparable part of identity for First Nations people on what is now known as the Australian Continent.
“When we talk about Country we’re talking about the land, the sea, the sky, all of the living things within those spaces, and the relationships between all of those elements, and spirits too,” Saunders said. “We come from Country.”
During her time in Denver, Saunders said she also had the opportunity to lead professional development for zoo staff members.
“It became a teaching exchange,” she said. “I got to work on [the project] with some of the knowledge holders, the [Native American] people, that the zoo has a relationship with. So then it became a cultural exchange as well.”
Saunders describes herself as a proud Gunai woman with ties to the Biripi, Gundungurra, Yuin, and Dharawal peoples of the east coast of Australia. “[This has] been one of the most powerful projects I’ve ever worked on, and I feel really lucky as an artist to have this project across the oceans in Denver.”
She said she hopes that her work at the exhibit encourages broader engagement in Colorado, including with the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Ute peoples.
