Arcadian Floral Emblem
From Daguerreotypes through to Photoshop, the history of photography has been filled with fraudsters, tricksters and illusionists. It is firmly within this tradition that I position myself as a photographer. This is because I make fantastical images within the confines of my studio. Images that reveal to the viewer the infinite possibilities of imagined, manufactured and constructed worlds.

I have just started a new body of work with a working title of Arcadia. I apologise now for a sparse looking web gallery, but it is early days. I will be filling it up as the months progress.

In the arts, Arcadia represents an idealised or romantic version of pastoral life — a paradise where inhabitants live simple yet prosperous lives off the land. In Greek mythology, Arcadia is the birthplace of Pan, the god of herds and flocks, of fertility and of country life in general.

Arcadia is also a region of Greece in the Peloponnese (close to where my father was born and from where I have just returned for the first time). Closer to home we have an Arcadia just outside of Shepparton in regional Victoria and one in New South Wales and Queensland alike.

So why this interest in Arcadia? It is because all the landscapes I have been visualising recently are hyper aestheticised versions of a contemporary world, devoid of inhabitants. Visually lush with a semi-abstract edge, these landscapes allow respite from a world saturated by messages of environmental and economic gloom. Perhaps they preempt a future where humanity will either be living harmoniously with or obliterated from our very own Arcadia.

Press'd-On is a homage to my new suburb and studio location. My way of connecting with new surroundings is to create work about it. For me, looking at my new surroundings in an aesthetic way forces me to engage with it quickly. After quite a few months, I can well and truly say I am home. As a body of work, Press'd-On is now complete.

If you want to see what I was producing a few years ago, give the Archive section a go. It houses work created in the past but which I think still stand the test of time.