Body of Water
2019
2019
The river is always moving; alive, never the same.
Our bodies are largely made of water,
and so many of our daily rituals, our beliefs, our rules for living,
our imaginings and our figures of speech are connected to water.
We talk about ebb and flow, about testing the water,
about fluidity of identity.
Water is a physical and spiritual power,
a metaphor, a means of survival.
a metaphor, a means of survival.
We are prisoners of comfort, of structures and confined spaces that separate us from nature
and allow us to disassociate from that part of ourselves.
The natural world is changing at an alarming rate due to our violence towards it,
our treatment of it as other.
and allow us to disassociate from that part of ourselves.
The natural world is changing at an alarming rate due to our violence towards it,
our treatment of it as other.
Part of this series was photographed in Tasmania as the summer bushfires burnt right across the river from where I was located.
There was smoke in the air, in our lungs, in our clothes.
You couldn’t see across the river to the town that had already been evacuated on the other side.
The other part of the work was photographed in Gippsland as more bushfires burnt nearby.
These images honour a communion with nature;
recalling a time when humans and the natural world existed more in harmony.
recalling a time when humans and the natural world existed more in harmony.
They also contain a sense of grieving for the unknown future of the earth;
as the earth becomes more unbalanced, we will follow.
There is an exploration of feminine identity in these images.
A shedding of confinement and restrictions that speaks
of a yearning to be closer to our natural selves.
The natural world of these images is often dark and foreboding,
yet the figures are not alone,
they are enveloped by nature and nourished by it.
as the earth becomes more unbalanced, we will follow.
There is an exploration of feminine identity in these images.
A shedding of confinement and restrictions that speaks
of a yearning to be closer to our natural selves.
The natural world of these images is often dark and foreboding,
yet the figures are not alone,
they are enveloped by nature and nourished by it.
