In 2019-2020 a mega-wildfire scorched 500,000 hectares (1.25 million acres) across the vast eucalypt forests of Australia’s Wollemi and Blue Mountains. The “Black Summer” devastation was accelerated by the hottest, driest year on record. Many eucalyptus species possess an ability to survive fire by producing temporary branches to provide emergency energy for new growth – but hundreds of thousands perished in the blaze.

Like the practices of Indigenous peoples of the American West, Aboriginal nations of Australia lived with fire as a natural and essential element of the yearly cycle and as part of a cohesive relationship with the land. What we today call ‘controlled burns’ sustained a healthy patchwork of open areas, encouraging useful native plants to thrive for thousands of years. This was before the European invasion changed everything.

This was before the age of megafires. This was the before.

Continuing a decade-long investigation of climate-impacted environments as a source in my art practice, I was invited by Australia’s Bilpin International Grounds for Creative Initiatives (BigCi) as a resident artist last June and July. I set out to create images in the eucalyptus and gum forests five years after the Black Summer. But, while there, a raging two-day winter windstorm roared up from the Antarctic, through the surviving eucalyptus canopy into the high country of the Blue Mountains. The charged atmospheric energy of the wind was loud and intense.

It was cold, and stunning to behold.

During the historic windstorm I spontaneously decided to experiment with infrared video of the eucalyptus canopy being thrashed about. It was terrible and beautiful, and inspired me to create a projected piece for an Australian exhibition in July. The piece was re-edited in NC, and is presented here, as an integral aspect of this exhibition.

Per my usual art practice, I wanted to understand climate-impacted ecosystems and related cultural systems. I absorbed what I could from Australian mentors: a North Queensland forest ecologist I befriended; a Sydney-based landscape painter; an aboriginal leader; and by hiking with BigCi’s co-founder, a wilderness explorer & writer.

Photographs were made using a full-spectrum camera and an infrared camera. Works presented here were completed in Durham with a process of my own design: archival UV-printed images onto clear sheets and paint applied in thin layers - many with ultra fine flakes of aluminum, bronze, copper, and mica to add depth and movement.

While each print is unique, pictures are made in editions, up to five.