That which remains 2026

Figment, Otway Ranges, Gadubanud country

Photographing sections of the Great Ocean Road and the Otway Ranges was complex; the Otway forest was wet, chilly, and uncomfortable. Dank. Driving takes you into dense surroundings on roads more common to logging trucks. With little point of view, the forest closes in on the road, sometimes giving way to reveal vast perspectives of open farmland or pillaged forest, then returning in a moment through an arcing bend to a heavily wooded, dark passage of a road lined with dripping fronds that seemed part of an origin story. Walking away from the road revealed the remains of giant trees, stark reminders of our binary relationship with nature. As wonderful as the journey was, constant reminders of human intervention seemed less than useful for what remains of the forest. The photographs in this entry were exposed on old stock, a little hammered by forgetfulness and time, an analogue to what remains of the forest.