Brooke Evans, The Garden State (Student (ATEP 2017))

European colonisation has transformed much of the Australian landscape, to the extent that many of the landscapes a viewer might think of as typically Australian may well be constructions. This is the experience felt when entering one of the Dandenong ranges parks or gardens. While it feels natural, each plant has been carefully curated, controlled and maintained. After many decades of growth, these parks and gardens appear ‘wild’ but are hybrids of European ideals of what the Australian ‘bush’ and a sublime landscape look like. It is this tension that I have sought to explore in this body of work ‘The Garden State’.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.