Through the season, across time. Over a year, local artist Tracy Ponich photographed Everglades, the National Trust of Australia property in Leura.
The result is Transitions, an exhibition of the work shot through all climatic and seasonal changes. As well as the photographs in the exhibition, there is a book available by the same name.
Transitions is part of this year’s Head On Photo Festival, and with one wall devoted to storyboards, it also joins the Australian Heritage Festival 2018. The storyboards are about Everglades over its eight decades, a combination of Ponich’s present-day images with historical photographs.
There are passages from those who have known the place, including volunteers, three managers from recent times, and diary notes from Paul Sorensen, the garden’s creator.
Everglades Manager, Guy McIlrath said: “This exhibition transports the viewer, giving them the opportunity to be immersed in the gardens. In a blink of an eye they can time travel through 80 wonderful years at Everglades – I wonder what Paul Sorensen would think?”
This touches on an intriguing aspect of the exhibition, its location at Everglades itself. Transitions flows inside the gallery walls and out. The visitor can stroll through the door and past the very spot of a photograph.
Ponich captures those spots at their most evocative: the vegetable garden shrouded in spring mist, the cherry terrace in bloom and towering trees defining passages with autumn colour.
Transitions also takes the viewer beyond the garden. There is a photograph of a Sorensen-designed pumphouse, taken below Everglades deep in the Jamison Valley. Sorensen’s garden tools from the 1930’s add to the historical component: pruning saws, a turf lifter, a Stillson wrench, all photographed as objects of art in studio.
In a blink of an eye they can time travel through 80 wonderful years at Everglades.
- Guy McIlrath
Transitions is a carbon neutral event. Its footprint has been measured and offset with certified carbon credits supporting forest conservation and clean energy projects. This was an important component, and message, for the photographer and Everglades alike.
Transitions opens on Saturday, May 5, 2-4pm (free entrance during the opening). The exhibition runs from May 5-27, Wednesday-Sunday 11am-3pm at 37 Everglades Avenue, Leura.
