Arts Residency at Strathnairn Arts ACT

I am about to begin an art residency at Strathnairn Arts, and my first step is not to build a new Trash Camera, but to explore the area, its landscape and tostart looking.

These photographs are my first encounter with the place through one of my existing trash cameras, whihc are an improvised camera obscura made from discarded urban waste. This camera is intentionally difficult to use and forces a slow down and engagement with the subject. It is unpredictable and deeply connected to the materials from which the camera itself is made.

Strathnairn is an intriguing place to begin. Here, freshwater ecology, major catchments, cultural history and urban development intersect. Water moves through the landscape, carrying with it the consequences of what happens upstream and around it.

During the residency I will be making new Trash Cameras in response to these particular environmental and cultural conditions, then using them to explore the relationships between water, landscape, people and the waste we leave behind.