As a departure from the enduring European aesthetic traditions of the beautiful, the picturesque and the sublime, Working Within seeks to subvert the historical hierarchies that have contributed to the ongoing classification, commodification and exploitation of the earth. These traditions are built upon Western dualistic thinking and perpetuate the Anthropocentric myth that human beings are somehow separate to and above the rest of the natural world. However, as the realities of human actions begin to manifest in the form of Anthropogenic climate change, we know this not to be true.

Working Within presents an approach to landscape photography grounded in ecological thinking. Created between a working flower farm and flood-prone community commons, this project engages cameraless photography to explore an ecological aesthetic based on openness, collaboration, and chance.

Using a generative process called lumen printing, the artist facilitates the slow, collaborative, and chaotic creation of a unique photographic object that works against any idea of separation. Lumen prints are images of their own becoming, communicating a haptic exchange registered in both photographic and material terms. As objects, the representative powers of cameraless photography are considered in equal measure with their affective and material qualities. The resulting images reveal themselves slowly, offering access to an ecological worldview that is grounded in openness, reciprocity and respect.

Exhibition at Western Plains Cultural Centre

10 Feb - 15 April 2018