Studio update: June
This is the second email I'm sending about what I'm working on. I don't know if this is interesting - though a few folks did get back to me after the first one and say that they found it somewhat engaging. Thanks for that feedback.
My art practice
I'm working on this project called Corner Country. It's a good at the Dingo Proof Fence as a place where great ecological damage has happened and has subsequently been upheld. It's not just that people did the wrong thing 100 years ago, but that many continue to want to make things worse.
The main issue with making this work, though, is time. It takes me, minimum, 2 days to drive to where I can see the fence and for many locations 3-4 days. A lot of it is incredibly remote - truly the outback. I have to carry several days' worth of water to be safe and I will go days without seeing anyone.
So here's the question: what can I do to work on this when I'm at home in Melbourne?
What I have been doing is:
Meeting with people who rehabilitate and rehome dingoes - taking pictures of the animals and thinking about how I want these to look.
Finding ways to photograph feral animals - who are the main beneficiaries of the dingo proof fence, as it protects foxes, goats, pigs and cats from predation by dingoes. These animals decimate native species. It's a bit tricky to find people who see these animals regularly (say, a hunter) and get them to let me come along and take photos - ferals are everywhere, and their ubiquity makes it surprisingly difficult to find reliable access.
I've been connecting with some taxidermists and organising time to photograph pelts of cats, pigs, goats and foxes.
I have a long weekend where I'm flying to the Nullabor to photograph the fence. I have some time saved up from weekend/after hours work which I'll use for this trip - it's a quick one but allows me to get to the place the fence hits the ocean.
I have also been applying for money to make the work, which is hard to come by. In Australia most grants are based on location - so if you live in Melbourne you can apply for Melbourne based grants. However almost all of these want to support people doing things locally. So paying me to cross state lines and go to the outback makes me ineligible for the majority of local and state funding. I was rejected from a bunch of grants towards the end of last year and it really upset me, so it's good to be back on the horse.
I'm also organising a residency for myself in Broken Hill next year, hopefully for at least 3 weeks. I'll live there and spend a lot of time photographing several places in the area.
I am also heading to Sydney to work with some researchers to photograph what they have accumulated over decades of looking at this area. So keen for this shoot in September.
I will eventually trawl through libraries and look at photos of dingoes and the fence from bygone eras, but not yet.
I was recently hired to co-curate a big photobook event in Melbourne - I will share a LOT more on this over the next 9 months as it's going to be amazing
Tall Poppy Press
LOTS has been going on at TPP HQ.
Our next book - which will be the 5th title - is available for pre-order
I have been making our sixth, seventh and eighth books - spending a lot of time behind the scenes on design, editing, printing, etc.
I am hoping to go to Paris in November for Polycopies book fair (fingers crossed) which would be a big step for me and TPP
TPP also had its first publishing prize, which was an interesting experience. Reading 65 entries and seeing what was well presented and what wasn't, as well as looking at so many other artists' works was really interesting. I really learned a lot about what makes a good application.
It's almost tax time (my favourite time of the year), I am updating my accounting processes to be even more accurate in the next financial year. I want to know, at a glance, how much money TPP has made, whereas now it's a little less specific than that. This takes a lot more finesse as a book that sells has expenses (transaction costs, packaging costs) that aren't always simple to track. Anyway - lots to learn.
It's been a BUSY time! That's for sure.
I hope it's been a creative time for you too!