THE SOUL OF THE TITJIKALA COLOURFUL

Nick Leary Photo Exhibition

WORDS FROM THE ARTIST
"My exhibition is about the soul of Titjikala's colours, it's landscape and the people within the community.

When I first arrived in Titjikala, I didn't know what I was shooting and just immersed myself in the environment for a few days. There are gutted, broken down cars, a general disarray of car parts, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It's not a place that immediately looks like paradise. I didn't want to do what everyone else would do and snap away at these scenes. I really wanted to do something with soul. We went out to Chambers Pillar and I was struck at how fully charged this natural monument was.

An elderly Aboriginal woman came out with us and when she saw the Pillar her reaction was like she'd seen the ocean for the first time. It made me wonder what actually charged the people of the area. I wanted to take a small piece of rock and the elderly woman said I must take two rocks. Why? So the rock won't be lonely. I wanted to find out what it was, this spiritual connection with the land. I began shooting and the colours started coming through, the Dreamtime, the people, the impressionistic vibrant colours that is the Desert. As I kept shooting, it became more obvious what was beautiful.

Even though my first love is shooting fashion, something happened to me there. I felt an obligation to the people to shoot something with heart and soul rather than souvenir portraits. I wanted the people to feel proud of my work by showing the world what makes them feel proud.

I shot traditionally on film using a Pentax 67, Canon 35mm and a Contax 645 for backup. The photos were scanned from negatives using a cross-process to turn them into art pieces."

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