Róża Marciniak is an award-winning AIPP Master photographer and has run the established Geelong Photography for many years, Her practice has been dedicated to teaching, commercial photography and fine art printing, and personal artistic development, who has held successful solo and group exhibitions, and has had images published in the press, magazines and books. Róża is also a qualified secondary and TAFE teacher, with over twenty years’ experience in training adults in the workplace.
Based nearby in Breamlea we are delighted to welcome Róża into the fold after her first showing at The Hive as an important part of ‘FLOW- stories of the wetlands’ with her images from both ground level and above of the Karaaf wetlands that are located between Breamlea and Torquay. These wetlands are currently under proposal to be classified as Ramsar status, areas of international importance, and we cross our fingers this is achieved to help preserve their beauty and importance for the future.
KARAAF – A SHY LANDSCAPE
These works challenge us to recognise the beauty and vulnerability of the Breamlea Karaaf Wetlands and the need to protect this unique and fragile place of biodiversity and indigenous cultural significance. Historically dismissed as “swampland”, used for farming and a tip, the area is under threat from the effects of development, and is currently the subject of various projects to redress these issues.
The Karaaf has an outstanding beauty, but with limited accessibility, it is not easily seen or appreciated: it is a shy landscape. Inspired by notions of the sublime, these images capture the drama and beauty in its skies, waters, vegetation, creatures and landforms.
Resonant of the iconic Blue Marble photograph of the Earth from space, the aerial images of the wetlands are presented as spheres, fractals of the larger globe. Each image offers the possibility of another, alien, world. Photographed from a helicopter at heights of up to 2500 feet, the images disconnect us from familiar landmarks, inviting us to abandon pre-conceived notions of landscape and natural beauty and enabling us to see beyond the known. From this height the mundane, slightly drab wetlands are transformed, Cinderella-like, and we see how tidal and creek water flows bring patterns in sand, vegetation and animal movement, creating a world of kaleidoscopic jewel colours and mythical creatures.
In these images, too, we are witness to the encroachment of human activity whether historical or current, intentional or accidental. Hence, they record a moment in time of a natural system in flux, reacting to forces beyond its boundaries, reminding us of the connectedness of all things, that all action must have an equal and opposite reaction. Our love of the coast and desire to live on it have consequences which are not always or immediately seen.
Of interest, the aerial views are all named after the key vegetation found in each image.
All work is available as a framed limited edition print run of 10. Aerial rounds are available as an edition in two sizes 50cm and 90cm diameter, $800 and $1,500 respectively. The realist works are also editions of 10, 40 x 60cm or 60 x 90cm, $800 and $1,500.
