When Less Isn't More

This series visually explores issues of conservation and extinction. Exhibited in September 2015, each image was printed in one of three sizes on Hahnemuehle Cotton Rag. The show won the Visual Arts Genre Excellence Award of the 2015 Sydney Fringe Festival. In early 2015, armed with only an iPhone and an olloclip, I photographed threatened and endangered invertebrates and frogs in the Australian Museum’s collections with the assistance of the scientists who work there. Unlike most of my other work, there are no humans in these images, ironic considering the impact we are having on the species therein. The editing process - all done purely using apps on an iPad or iPhone - became an exercise in communicating beauty where perhaps it does not exist; in trying to get across a sense of fragility with a strong sense of place. All these species are Australian - and most are in an extremely vulnerable position - many staring extinction right in the face. I still struggle with that concept, much like I struggled with the imagery for some of these species. The end result is a series of work that feels ephemeral, fleeting and evocative. The works are colourful, vibrant yet subtle - the little creatures within them are obscured or fading from view - art imitates life. Allegory and fact - side by side. Sometimes less really isn’t more…. My hope is that these images allow the viewer to see such invertebrates, insects, molluscs, arachnids, even frogs and toads, these seemingly inconsequential, neglected little critters in our environment in a totally different light.