Cataract, available light and upend

BACKGROUND Australia Felix or the 'Lucky Country' - as Thomas Mitchell named the lush pasturelands of Western Victoria - has been explored historically by such artists as writer Henry Handel Richardson and painters Eugene von Guérard and Arthur Streeton. The theme continues to be researched as evidenced by the 2011 exhibition of the same title at Griffith University. In Beyond Big Land, curator Lisa Sullivan featured Christine Adams, Lesley Duxbury, Les Walkling and Stephen Wickham, to counterbalance more popular, clichéd images (of Australia as replete with endless natural resources) to create photographic images that represent Australia as a fragile, vulnerable country. The exhibition was unique in that most exhibitions remotely addressing the same topic are historical. Duxbury's invitation to participate was based on her previous work depicting fragile environments, e.g. Melt (2008) and Double Life (2009). CONTRIBUTION Duxbury's series of 3 multi-part photographs (Cataract, Available Light, and Upend) came from a research trip to Tasmania, where the country was accessed on foot or canoe, providing a phenomenological engagement with the landscape during heavy rainfall and at twilight - a time of the day and weather conditions not normally associated with the lucky country. The photographs created several points of focus and non-focus and thus varied of ways of viewing each subject, indicating alternative understandings of the landscape. SIGNIFICANCE In addition to the invitation to exhibit these three works at the Geelong Gallery (Regional Gallery), two of them (Cataract and Available Light) had been in another curated exhibition at the Stephen McLaughlan Gallery in 2010. These 'blurred' photographs build on an important contemporary theme in international art: "More and more often images that are out of focus appear in both contemporary painting and photography" (Blur After Richter catalogue, Hamburger Kunsthalle).【背景】菲利克斯澳大利亚（Australia Felix），即托马斯·米切尔（Thomas Mitchell）命名的“幸运之国（Lucky Country）”——这片西维多利亚州的茂盛牧场，曾是作家亨利·亨德尔·理查森（Henry Handel Richardson）、画家尤金·冯·格拉尔德（Eugene von Guérard）与亚瑟·斯特里顿（Arthur Streeton）等艺术家的历史采风对象。该主题至今仍被持续研究，2011年格里菲斯大学（Griffith University）举办的同名展览便是有力佐证。在《超越广袤大地（Beyond Big Land）》展览中，策展人丽莎·沙利文（Lisa Sullivan）展出了克里斯汀·亚当斯（Christine Adams）、莱斯利·达克斯伯里（Lesley Duxbury）、莱斯·沃克林（Les Walkling）与斯蒂芬·威克汉姆（Stephen Wickham）的作品，旨在打破将澳大利亚塑造成“拥有取之不尽自然资源”的流行刻板印象，转而创作展现澳大利亚作为脆弱易损国家的摄影作品。该展览的独特之处在于，绝大多数探讨同一主题的展览均以历史视角展开，此展则另辟蹊径。达克斯伯里受邀参展，源于其此前描绘脆弱环境的系列创作，例如2008年的《融化（Melt）》与2009年的《双重生命（Double Life）》。 【研究贡献】达克斯伯里的三件多联摄影作品系列（《大瀑布（Cataract）》《可用光线（Available Light）》与《倒置（Upend）》）源自她在塔斯马尼亚（Tasmania）的实地考察之旅。她以步行或独木舟的方式深入当地，在强降雨与黄昏时段与地貌展开现象学层面的互动——这一时段与天气状况通常与“幸运之国”的刻板印象毫无关联。这些摄影作品设置了多个焦点与非焦点区域，由此衍生出多种审视创作主体的视角，体现了对地貌景观的另类认知。 【研究意义】除受邀在吉隆区域美术馆（Geelong Gallery）展出这三件作品外，其中两件作品（《大瀑布》与《可用光线》）曾于2010年在斯蒂芬·麦克劳克兰美术馆（Stephen McLaughlan Gallery）的另一场策展展览中亮相。这些“模糊”摄影作品呼应了国际艺术界的重要当代主题：“如今越来越多失焦影像频繁出现在当代绘画与摄影创作中”（出自汉堡美术馆（Hamburger Kunsthalle）《模糊之后的里希特（Blur After Richter）》展览目录）。