KAREN CASEY<BR> Born 1956, Hobart, Tasmania<BR> Lives in Melbourne, Victoria<BR> The Record Keepers<BR> Photo -lithograph in one colour, printed from one CTP off-set photo-litho plate<BR> Image developed by the artist in Photoshop and printed by Martin King at Australian Print Workshop, 2006<BR> Image size: 40 x 54cm Paper size: 56 x 76cm<BR> From the ancient practice of hand-stenciling to the elaborate science of cartography, human beings possess an innate desire to record and chart their arrivals and journeys through life. Drawing from Abel Tasman's 1642 expedition journal and on the cave art signatures of my Tasmanian forebears, this work responds to both the spirit of exploration and discovery, and to the enduring sense of connection one has with one's country and place of origin. Like the contours of the explorers' maps, the tracings and imprints of clasped hands reveal the passage of time, metaphorically uniting peoples of different cultures through the myriad of life's experience, each existing within a particular geographic location and each with a story to tell.