Partnering with Arid Lands Environment Centre and many community volunteers and documenters we generated a super-sized buffel weeding photo called ‘The Biggest Buffel Bust Ever’ as part of the Visitors project. More than 120 community members came out in the early hours of Father’s Day (Sunday 16 July 2017) to be part of a world-record-length buffel line photo shoot. A section of the hill had a huge tract of buffel removed by volunteers during four buffel busting prep sessions in the lead up to the photo shoot.

The long line of models dissected the escarpment like a search party, shoulder to shoulder, weeding into the endless horizon of a country overrun. The buffel weed invasion is so extensive now that the best we can do is keep some tracts of land cleared to preserve the native seed stock.

‘In The Biggest Buffel Bust Ever! the scale of the image allows the viewer to grasp the magnitude and complexity of the ecological change that we, collectively, have allowed to seize hold of the landscape. This is not just because the overall image is big but because it sets several scales in play with one another all at once.’

- Kieran Finnane | Alice Springs News

BUFFEL

Buffel grass is making a fast-destructive march across Central Australian landscape, literally defacing the land of its complex flora species and changing the natural ecosystem forever.  Introduced by pastoralists to feed stock, soil stabilisation and to keep the dust down it burns at a higher temperature than native species can tolerate, quickly colonizing the burnt-out areas and creating a mono cultural landscape. Although it has reached epic proportions it is not categorized as a weed so it is still legal for pastoralist to sow it for feed. The cattle prefer native grasses but there are no bulk native grasses available for pastoralist to buy.

‘Tennis Mum in Gondwana’ is an exploration of the breach between contemporary western society and nature. I have displaced an iconic urban stereotype in the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia to illuminate the contrast between our identity and our natural environment. The gap in time between our modern lives and the ageless Gondwana rainforest of 100 million years ago is abruptly closed. The mists of time at once seem to reconcile these disparate forces (mother nature and a modern mother) yet shroud the scene with the impenetrable beautiful mysteries of the natural world.

2018 Alice Prize Finalist (Photography), Araluen Gallery, AS.

Location Eagle’s Nest Walking Track New England National Park | Christian Barraclough Model

Art is like air – it’s not a grand, elite, lofty concept -it’s an essential part of the human experience and what we do is give people and ourselves a chance to suck on the art oxygen mask for a few seconds.

SO REAL likes to ride the crest of the artistic wave on the real sea, as we believe it’s the most interesting and exciting place to be. Our imagination and visions are as large as life pluming from the theatre rooftop, seeping and oozing out under the gallery door, rolling down the street to the mall where all the locals hang out. We take art to life visiting the everyday experience as if it were the most cutting edge exhibition/show. Working in the distillation of performance, which involves ‘just you, me and this moment’, opens a direct line to the real human experience.

For more information about SO REAL  visit soreal.net.au