Internal Landscapes - Digital photographs printed by RHO on mirror aluminum and acrylic composite material. 165 cm x 110 cm. Limited edition of 4 and 1 artist copy. P.O.A.

Upon entering this site, I was entranced by its twisting and contorting branches. The torpidly languishing state of decay became a metaphor for my body. I made associative and intuitive links between the trees and the network of blood vessels, connective tissues and nerve fibers within my body. The forest’s struggle became a metaphor for the experience of waiting, hoping and longing to be released from the prison of my noncompliant body. Beneath the canopy of Pine trees grow Ake Ake, which in Maori means ‘forever and ever’. They have spread from the dunes into the forest, but have not thrived. The dry rotting branches and leaning trunks are strewn across the ground and there seems no clear pathway through the entangled limbs of the trees. The forest seems impenetrable, I am uncertain which direction to go in, as each way looks as arduous. I have a sense of the looming possibility of becoming lost and engulfed within, never to escape or be recovered. I am aware of my isolation and I feel very vulnerable. It is during these moments of aloneness and through the process of photography that I am able to reflect on my pain experience and how it has altered my relationship with the world in which I live.

Internal Landscapes