Karen Marie Keefe - Skullbone

Skullbone
Karen Marie Keefe

photograph print on platine fibre rag paper
12" x 18"

A New Eye on Nature - 2023 Tasmanian Land Conservancy Photography Residencies
In 2023, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy ran a photography residency on its nature reserves. These emerging photographers spent a week deeply immersed in three distinctive landscapes. Through its arts projects, the Tasmanian Land Conservancy encourages contemporary and diverse views and understandings of our relationship with and responses to nature. As nature changes in dramatic and unpredictable ways, so too must our representations. These photographs will spark conversation on what nature is, what it is becoming, and how conservation organisations such as the Tasmanian Land Conservancy might respond.

Artist's Statement - Karen Marie Keefe
Skullbone Plains, March 2023

These pieces reflect the vastness of land in connection with personal changing perceptions in this space, revealing a myriad of contrasts, of the life, death and rebirth cycle. Elements and abstractions among this isolated sometimes harsh landscape sustain fragile life among peril, preserving a container of home for endangered endemic species and wildlife unique to this land.

Tasmanian Land Conservancy supported my first photography residency which allowed for full immersion at Skullbone Plains in Central Highlands in lutruwita / Tasmania. One week of being, connecting in, exploring and getting to know this 1600 hectare protected reserve and its inhabitants, teeming with wildlife yet hidden from humans until exploring within the plains where they reside, out of the perimeter view. This is the first time I have been able to spend one week solo in nature, dedicated to photography, while gaining a deeper insight into myself and my relationship to this space, with clear present-moment awareness, curiosity-sparked discovery of place, space and forms. It took a few days to settle into the landscape and transition to working more intuitively, amidst challenges which allowed for growth, new skills learned, a deeper appreciation for photography and wilderness, as well as sparking a spiritual reconnection, remembrance.

Please Note:
images are made to order and require 10-15 days for printing & framing from order/purchase date. 
Images purchased directly from the gallery wall can be collected directly from Wild Island at the end of the exhibition. Alternatively we can arrange for shipping via courier within Australia for an additional freightage cost. 
Please contact the gallery directly for a shipping estimate.