Dragon Tree — Dracaena draco (2020)
Photograph shot on medium format film. Printed with Ultra Chrome Pigment on Canson Edition Etching 100% cotton rag.
72 x 94 cm

The Dragon Tree or Dracaena draco has been listed as endangered. It is a tree of myth and legend associated with ancient writers and mariners who brought tales to Europe of the magical qualities of the blood-like resin of ancient gargantuan plants. Native to the Canary Islands, the resin of these trees has been traded since the fifteenth century and amongst other uses it was used for polishing violins.

As an environmental artist I have promoted environmentalism for the past 30 years through my teaching, contemporary art and writing. Artistically I work across the mediums of painting, sculpture, photography and video. My photographic work illuminates the natural world both physically and metaphorically. With light I paint a ‘portrait’ of the tree, capturing a moment in a tree’s life. Darkness is a part of vision - it can frame something without destroying it. Through framing the natural world with darkness, the specificity of that world is revealed.

I am the Founder of the Tree Veneration Society, which raises awareness about the natural environment through exhibitions, symposiums, workshops and performances. https://treevenerationsociety.com.

I have exhibited internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle in France titled Portraits d’Arbres Remarquables Illuminés.

Takayna Reverence / Takayna Tragedy (2024)
Photograph shot on medium format film. Printed with Ultra Chrome Pigment on Canson Edition Etching 100% cotton rag

The Tarkine/Takayna (Indigenous name) is the largest tract of cool-temperate rainforest in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a relic of Gondwana landscape, the likes of which is only seen in New Zealand or Patagonia. The Tarkine, while achieving multiple World Heritage Values, is not protected. Rather, it is subject to destruction from both the logging and mining industry.

I took these photographs while on a field trip in the Takayna and contrast with photographs I took in the nearby town of Burnie, where mounds of woodchip are shipped overseas. 90% of trees logged in old growth forest in Australia end up as woodchip now.

As a committed environmental artist I am also the founder of the Tree Veneration Society, a transdisciplinary, contemporary eco-arts collective focused on trees, their ecosystems and the protection of the natural environment.

Artistically I work across the mediums of painting, sculpture, photography and video. I have exhibited internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle in France titled Portraits d’Arbres Remarquables Illuminés.

My research into venerated trees in India resulted in the publication, ‘Sacred Trees of India: Adornment and Adoration as an Alternative to the Commodification of Nature’.