On the road with Sophie Matterson
When I got the call from Australian Geographic to track down Sophie Matterson and...
In my childhood I grew up with the paintings of colonist Frederick McCubbin’s ‘The Pioneer’ enduring hardships in their new life in a new world.
I felt the agony of the loss of a child, drought, death during childbirth and the underlying sense of fear within the unknown.
Growing up in Port Augusta swimming in mudlands until late into the night this feeling has stuck with me. These images to me are an outpouring of the unchosen ignorance growing up without any form of education or awareness of the true dark history of this ‘lucky’ country.
Such shame, such sorrow, grasping towards hope in a system that doesn’t fit.
This new series was photographed next to one of the busiest intersections in Adelaide and yet we were able to find solace and respite within the forest, animals and still waters.
Taking inspiration from ‘The Pioneer’ this series shows the break down of a system as the force and magnitude of another forces its way in.