It seems appropriate that the first journal entry for 2022 should be about a project which was completed just as 2021 came to an end.
During 2020 and 2021, with overseas travel prohibited and interstate travel restricted, I decided to explore things closer to home. In a series of short trips I visited and photographed 100 small towns, populations less than 500, scattered over the agricultural regions of South Australia. I was interested in capturing signs of life, indicators of people residing, working and playing in these small communities. I was not interested in the somewhat fashionable genre of “ruin porn”.
This was not a journalistic enterprise seeking to provide a full balanced depiction of these places. The images simply reflect my experience. I was not part of these communities. I was a city traveller, passing through. As such I experienced the signs of life rather than being privy to the lives themselves. While no people appear, their presence, or absence, is apparent in every image.
In editing the images for a book I decided to present just one photograph from each of the 100 towns. That photograph, however, is not meant to be representative of the town.
The book can be previewed HERE.
Pekina
Caltowie
Bute
Edithburgh
Robertstown
Geranium Plains
Point Turton
Brinkworth
