Lie of the land

Over the past 100 years Botany Bay has seen relentless industrialisation. No matter where you locate yourself, the shoreline is dominated by human intervention.

This work examines how photography can obfuscate and manipulate the history of a site. In Australia, landscape photography has played a supporting role in settler colonisation, perpetuating the myth of untouched land whilst obscuring the history of indigenous Australians. The unsettling effect of returning the sublime to Botany Bay talks to the complexities of the Australian historical narrative.

I would like to acknowledge the Bidjigal, Gweagal and Kameygal people of the Eora nation, Traditional Custodians of the land on which I made this work. I recognise their continuing connection to the land, waters and culture and pay my respect to Elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty was never ceded.