Rowan Conroy, Untitled #13, from the series Natura Naturans 2014. Pigment inkjet prints on cotton rag.
My next solo exhibition Natura Naturans features photographic works that were made during the New South Wales firestorms of 17 October 2013. At the time Prime Minister Tony Abbot commented that firestorms are a natural part of the Australian landscape and this was simply nature going about its business, nature naturing. The reality of human induced climate change challenges these enlightenment notions of the sublime in nature. Now when we gaze at up at the clouds we can no longer be sure that what we are seeing is nature in its purest form free from the influence of human action. Scientists now regard this influence on the atmosphere as so conspicuous that we have entered a new geological epoch - the anthropocene. We as a species have not only marked the land we have changed the physiognomy of the sky.
The exhibition is accompanied by a superb essay by Dr Martyn Jolly, Head of Photography and Media Arts, ANU School of Art.
Show runs 28 September - 11 October 2014 at Barometer Gallery, Paddington.