Summit and Abyss – Wanderings through a Threatened Forest

Detail

“Only now do you tread your path of greatness! Summit and abyss – they are now united in one! You are now treading your path of greatness: now what was formerly your ultimate danger has become your ultimate refuge.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra – The Wanderer, 1883-1885.

The forest has long been a place of contradictions: A place of fear on the one hand, where the wicked, the outlaw, the lawless, evil and savagery resided; yet forests were always place of refuge, safety and where the sacred resides. They were places of personal struggle and spiritual awakening. In the forests of Victoria, contradictions persist – where one part of society seeks to subdue the forest by intensive technocratic management and exploitation, in contrast to a wider array of people who see these forests for their intrinsic values and for the continuing legacies of Aboriginal peoples. It is through these forests and beyond our own conflict that we can glimpse the possibility of a better future.

I am delighted to be exhibiting a series of my photographs at Lentil as Anything in Thornbury, telling my own story of wanderings through this contested landscape. My photographs are printed on Arches Velin archival quality cotton paper and framed in hand crafted recycled timber.

Profits from the sale of my framed photographs will go to funding research into protecting Victoria’s critically endangered Mountain Ash forests and Lentil as Anything at Thornbury.

I sincerely wish to acknowledge the Wurundjeri, Taungurung and Gunaikurnai peoples, upon whose land my photographs were all taken. It is their longstanding close relationship with country, their legacy spanning thousands of years, that has shaped these forests and made them into what they are today. It is imperative that we learn from their continuing legacy, so that we can enjoy these forests into the future.

I thank Lentil as Anything at Thornbury and the wonderful staff for hosting my photographic exhibition.

The Exhibition opens of Sunday, 22 July 2018 and continues through to 1st September 2018