Belonging
Tracey Johnson
High Water Mark 2007
The landscape is interpreted through our various cultural lenses: idyllic, useful, benevolent, fragile, and powerful. I have lived in many remote areas across Australia, and always find a place of connection in the landscape. The natural world replenishes me, it freely provides so much. I drink it in its beauty and yet it is not diminished.
Having recently moved to Mackay I have been captivated by the tidal sand flats. At low tide the sand flats stretch out interminably. A wet salty desert, seemingly stretching to the horizon out under the scorching sun, it is one of the few places uninhabitable by humans. Neither land nor sea, it is inundated twice a day, and inhabited by creatures that survive this diurnal submersion and exposure.
I can visit but not make it my own. Here I can simply be, walk, think, sing, play, pray. It doesn’t need my attention, exists quite happily without me, but provides an endless feast for the eyes and soul. The tidal ebb and flow is never still for a moment. This dance of life carries on as it has for millennia, long before me.
Having been recently uprooted I feel a connection to this transitional zone. Walking through this landscape I am a sojourner; I am seeing this place with the fresh eyes of a traveller. But I cannot walk forever - like the mangrove seed I too am putting out tiny roots in the hope this place can sustain me.
back to RAWO7 Belonging Exhibition page
© Copyright 2007. All images contained within this website are protected under Australian Copyright Law,
and as such may not, under any circumstances be copied, used, or reproduced without permission. For
further information regarding the copyright restrictions of these images contact Auz Vizions Photographics.
|
|
