Backyards and the bush

I heard Jagath Dheerasekara, a photographer, being interviewed on radio national today and was fascinated by his subject matter. He is a Sri Lankan refugee who now lives in Australia and much of his work deals with Aboriginals, human rights and environmental issues. There is an exhibition of his work currently on at Customs House in Sydney. Looking on line I realised I had seen some of his work at an exhibition I had managed to catch at the Midland Railway Workshops and at the Fremantle Arts Centre in April. It was part of the Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere exhibition, which was fantastic, interesting, provoking - but that is another story.

This is the joyful image I remember from the Railway Workshops exhibition. The blurb from the Form Divergence catalogue states:

'Nomination of their traditional lands as a domestic nuclear waste dump site in 2007, coupled with proposals for Australia to "lease" uranium and take back nuclear waste from overseas, have generated justifiable fear and concern among the Aboriginal communities in and around Muckaty (Manuwangku), 120 km North of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory. Manuwangku, under the nuclear cloud attempts to document the spirit, connection to land and collective voice of this community, as they protest in defence of their right to live in a clean environment, free from hazardous waste.'

For more images from this exhibition check out this link to a slide show on Dheerasekara's website.
Manuwangku-Under-the-Nuclear-Cloud-Northern-Territory-Australia-2010-11

Another set of his photographs caught my attention titled The Bed or Stars Sky Breeze Trees. These images were taken in the Ampilatwatja Aboriginal community, 320km from Alice Springs. According to  Dheerasekara  the series of images are a comment on their relationship to land and nature compared to the 'colonizer-imposed' confines of house and fence.

They call to mind sleeping out under the stars as a child on stinking hot nights in summer. Outside the air was cooler, the stars so bright, we watched the milky way as it slowly slipped through the sky. The night sounds of the boobook owl echoed around us. Sometimes if we were lucky we saw a meteor shower. When the easterlies started blowing in the early morning, quite cold at times, we headed inside again. I still love camping out, being that much closer to the sun and moon and stars, feeling the breeze or stormy winds, and the damp early morning air. Best of all when sleeping out you can feel the dawn - I love that.

The last images are from Dheerasekara is from his delightfully urban My Clothesline Diary. Just love that sense of  backyard, everydayness of them. The gradual change of light and seasonality that we tend not to notice. The variations of clothes on the line speaking about the weather and where you've been and what you've been doing in the previous few days.

It also brings back memories of spinning in circles from the arms of the hoist. In our case there would be four of us swinging, one on each arm. Until we were sprung. I'm sure you've all heard the 'get off that ! you'll break it!' Needless to say the hills hoist never broke, even if it did go a bit wonky.

I can also remember later on hanging headless chooks off the line by their feet. This drained the blood before plucking and cleaning them in preparation for eating. Back in those days I think chooks were a bit of a luxury, certainly not as frequently eaten as they are today. Lamb chops and sausages were probably our daily fare.