Are We Dead Yet?

Photography Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

Stephen Dupont | amBUSH Gallery, Kambri (ANU) | Until 24 October 2021

This exhibition comprises 21 large photographic prints detailing various devastating ecological events around Australia, that have made award-winning Australian photographer Stephen Dupont realise the inevitability of the shift in conversation from ‘Is climate change happening?’ to ‘Is it too late?’

Inspired by his young daughter Ava – a climate activist – Dupont’s discussions about environmental issues ask the big question: is it possible to save the planet, or have we pushed Mother Nature to the brink of extinction? Are We Dead Yet? is part of a long-term artistic documentation of the effects of climate change on our nation.

In a review published 18 months ago, I confessed having struggled somewhat for several months seeing so many images of the bushfire crisis. On social media I had found it very difficult to ‘Like’ excellent images that revealed the anxieties all of us felt. Now here we are still seeing images of the aftermath of drought, bushfires and the pandemic – not only in this exhibition but numerous others.

Given Dupont’s experience and expertise, it was not surprising to see very high-quality images on display. Shot over the course of the past few years, in locations across several States, Dupont’s photographic journey tells striking visual stories, and conveys a sense of urgency. He wants to motivate us, his audience, to question our roles and responsibilities in these real-time catastrophes.

Using a solitary figure swimming in the ocean during a dust storm, a flooded football ground, the remains of a caravan, charred bushland, the parched ground of drought-stricken regions, and the rich colours of smoke and dust-filled skies, Dupont socks it to us. If we were previously immune to its impacts, or unchallenged by climate change, he wants to infect us with concern right now.

Some of the images reveal the impacts of climate change less obviously than do others. The remnants of a tree, used on the exhibition poster and in the catalogue, is probably the most graphic despite its simplicity; but another more effectively reveals the widespread and devastating destruction in the Tarkine region.

Tarkine, 2018 © Stephen Dupont

An image of a dust storm is very dramatic and powerful, showing the dust towering over a lone bather in the sea. Other images of dust storms remind us that they are widespread and commonly occur.

Scarborough Beach Dust Storm, 2020 © Stephen Dupont

Floating burnt embers during a bushfire are the real story element in a quite strangely beautiful story of sunlight streaming through the fire’s smoke. Once again, whether we need it or not, we are reminded by this and half a dozen other images that these types of fires were widespread in 2019 and 2020.

Hillville Fires 02, 2019 © Stephen Dupont

Another bushfire image clearly shows the human impact. The face of the man in it needs no words to tell of his emotions. And another equally, and poignantly, tells of the impact through a rather sad looking Christ figure.

Bodalla Fires, 2020 © Stephen Dupont

And an image of the skeletal remains of a caravan owned by Dupont’s friend, completely destroyed by fire in the devastating 2020 black summer bushfires has just been named as a finalist in the Australian Life competition (albeit with a different title). This powerful photograph clearly conveys just what such a fire can do and will, I suspect, be a strong contender in that competition.

A view from above of whites and blacks of trees impacted by dieback and fire is visually arresting. For me, the patterns make it the strongest artwork in the exhibition.

Snowy Mountains, 2020 © Stephen Dupont

Whilst the exhibition is technically open, the gallery is closed during the ACT COVID lockdown expected to run until 17 October. In the meantime there is a walk through of the exhibition here. All the images may also be seen on the artist's website here.

This review was published in the Canberra Times on 18/9/21 here and is also on the author's own blog here.

Avalanche. Black Summer 2020: the Aftermath.

 Photography | Brian Rope

Avalanche | Sari Sutton

Black Summer 2020: the Aftermath | Ben Kopilow

Photo Access | Until 5 June 2021

These exhibitions tackle climate transformation issues. Sari Sutton looks at seasonal variations producing snow. Ben Kopilow explores landscape after 2020’s Black Summer. A concurrent Photo Access members’ exhibition complements those by Kopilow and Sutton.

In Avalanche, Sutton shows us seasonal variations producing snow. In Black Summer 2020, Kopilow shows the aftermath of fire. Both are about climate transformations. Both display vivid extended landscape photography, relating to this time of extremes.

Set amidst the dramatic Mt Kosciuszko region, Sutton’s work explores the unfamiliar psychological features of our world’s landscape as altered by the pandemic and global warming. The rapid changes to climate along with COVID-related events, coming to a head in 2020, have forced a rethink of how we live with the natural environment. These images reflect on the fragility and transience of what we may have taken for granted.

 

Coconut triple choc-chip © Sari Sutton

Dr. Kirsten Wehner, PhotoAccess Director, says: "one of our most exciting early-mid career ACT photo-media artists, turns traditional landscape photography on its head, contesting the separation of viewer from scene and presenting a challenging feminist perspective on the raw, unforgiving country of the Australian Alps."

Unsurprisingly, there is a lot of white and black in these images; but a number of them include significant splashes of colour, particularly yellow. Interestingly, in her catalogue essay Surviving an Avalanche, Ellis Hutch says “Each time I drive up into the high country I have a bodily reaction at the point the road markings change from white to yellow. I take a breath, we are here, at the place where the snow will cover the road, where we need the yellow to mark the way.”

A simple image of a black and yellow sign before a snow-covered landscape and titled Hazard powerfully conveys just that.

Hazard © Sari Sutton

A shot of a red pole covered with lichen against a dark sky and titled Stop. Don’t. Come back. is equally strong.

 

Stop. Don't. Come back. © Sari Sutton

Master AIPP Photographer Ben Kopilow has explored environmental damage resulting from the 2020 bushfire season in ACT/NSW. He has focused on the disturbing beauty resulting from fires and beautiful signs of hope in the way the bush recovers.

 

Blackened sentinels © Ben Kopilow

For Kopilow, "The only thing constant is change. The landscape of our treasured national parks and our connection to them seems so fixed, permanent, and immutable, yet it is constantly changing ever so slowly." He highlights the starkness of newly revealed vistas, plus the physical and environmental damage done to native flora. His works serve to remind us that out of ashes comes new growth, renewal, and even beauty. He believes – and I agree - that no matter how bad things get, nature has a way of recovering, and so, in turn, does the human spirit.

 

Scorched earth near Gibraltar Falls © Ben Kopilow

In his catalogue essay, Doug Spowart reveals that he “wondered whether we were emotionally ready to relive THAT inferno through more documentary photographs?” After considering the question and the work, he was reminded of the role of photography to witness and share a story. He notes that this exhibition is the story of transient moments captured just after the fires. And that, even as we view the exhibition, the landscape has changed yet further.

I too had wondered whether I needed to see yet another exhibition about fire and drought – or the impact of the pandemic. But, before reading the titles or the catalogue or the words on the gallery wall, as I first looked into the gallery space I simply saw, and was impressed by, stunning colourful landscapes. They just happened to have been taken in the aftermath of the savage fires.

 

Autumn rebirth at Blowering Dam © Ben Kopilow

This review was published in The Canberra Times on 22/5/21 here. It is also published on the author's blog here.