far enough...

I'm currently exhibiting a piece as part of 

'Far Enough - Aesthetic responses to the Far South Coast'

at the Bega Valley Regional Art Gallery

Rhonda Ayliffe

Kooraban Koalas

Archival inkjet photographic print
58.0 x 140.0cm

my accompanying art statement...

"In spring of 2010 I heard a strange sound emanating from the forest of the Kooraban National Park behind my home. It was a mixture of a bellow/roar/grunt of monstrous proportions. Surely someone or something was being killed in a hideous fashion in the depths of the park. Weeks later, as word of the dreadful sound passed around, I received a call from Chris Allen, aka National Parks koala survey man – and over the phone Chris made a frighteningly accurate imitation of that scary sound: “What you heard was a male koala announcing his territory”. Wow. What a way to find out that you live next to arguably the most vulnerable koala population in the land of Oz..."

Kooraban Koalas is the photographic record of an ephemeral work, set up in the Kooraban National Park, at the site Chris and I surveyed in January this year.... the piece (in various manifestations) has been in the works since the day trip surveying Jimmy's Creek site with ANU folk back in April....

I have been deeply touched by the story of the koalas of the Kooraban - leading to my small participation in the Kooraban koala surveys and contribution to the documentation of local koala history (the document will be publicly released later in the year I think). Although I'm aware its not at all discernible in the displayed photographic work, this piece mostly represents my unfolding ideas about the blending of knowledge and site, art and practical work....

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