I feel at home in nature. Nature brings a desired peace to my constantly chaotic world. With this peace, I have developed a strong connection surrounding each unique natural environment, no matter where they are situated. I feel a profound sense of protection over each location I come across – a twinge of activism and environmentalism I didn’t realise I had, comes out in full force, helping me expand and develop my practice. Upholding respect for the land I walk on and having the privilege to view it with my own eyes is paramount over everything else.
My photographic practice aims to bring to light both niche and global environmental issues that deserve a consistent spotlight, capturing both the seemingly unreal beauty the world has to offer and the realistic tragic impact society has caused over time. I believe it is important to seek out both sides to develop a well-rounded perspective and a proper understanding of what’s happening to our planet.
My daring use of composition, natural light and scale are some of the ways I have tried to stand out in a world of oversaturation and repetition.
My project, How to live with the wildlife is an introspective series in which I am exposing the reality of human encroachment onto land once inhabited exclusively by native wildlife. The drastic difference between my two images showcases both the pure untouched land and the objectively ugly interference that has developed over the years in the Shire of Whittlesea. My decision to present my work in this fashion is so viewers are directly exposed to both the beauty and the beast of our efforts to live harmoniously with the current native wildlife that still exists around where I live.
It’s obvious that one of my images is more aesthetically pleasing in comparison to the other – this is deliberate. I am deliberately juxtaposing the two types of land that exist so close to each other in order for viewers to be confronted by the realities of how our land has changed over the years, and our direct contribution to its decline.
There is constant development in these areas, with infrastructure constantly being built and communities being formed. While I acknowledge these things are necessary for our population to grow and for traction to reach these areas, I can’t help but feel concerned with how much we disregard the wildlife that lives alongside us to benefit the human population. Our encroachment is something that can have long-lasting consequences for not only the land but also the wildlife that inhabits it – it’s constantly overlooked to make room for human needs. I invite viewers to rethink how we can live harmoniously with the existing wildlife, and how we can make conscious efforts to respect the wildlife and the grounds we all walk on.
For the short amount of time I have lived in the Shire of Whittlesea, I have never seen so many kangaroos and native birds in the wild before – they’re almost foreign to me which is an ironic admission, and it’s my semi-frequent encounters with them that make me enjoy living in this area. My wish is never to see any sort of decline in this wildlife, and I hope others will feel the same way I do.