Cavity

This series of photographs focuses on caves in Western Victoria that have a layer of colonial occupation; caves said to be inhabited by bush rangers, escaped convicts, shipwreck survivors and hermits. The photographer was drawn to a rich vein of sites associated with colonial myths of inhabitation. These include the escaped convict William Buckley; Miss Carmichael, survivor of the wreck of the Lochard in 1878; Bushranger Captain Melville, and elusive enigmatic Black Ranges hermit David Ross. The resulting photographs explore the sensory and psychological resonance of these extraordinary places, what they feel like and how they feed the imagination, the need to feel rooted, to feel at home. Her approach embraces the paradoxical ambivalence of this need and the complex process of negotiating our presence in the land.