THERE is a new exhibition at the art gallery in ARTtime on Brisbane Street, Ipswich. Wayne McDonnell is showcasing his photographic images of Outback Australia; the exhibition is titled A Sunburnt Country.
Wayne is a practicing arts photographer who is inspired by the natural and developed environment. His practice spans more than 25 years.
Working in the digital media, Wayne captures the world around him and especially enjoys travel photography, creating coffee table books and audio-visual shows of his work.
He was formally trained through Queensland TAFE as well as private tuition by professional photographers.
He has exhibited in solo and selected exhibitions and commissioned to photographically record public and private events.
He currently tutors in photography at the University of the Third Age (U3A) Ipswich.
This exhibition is a reflection on the poem by Dorothea Mackellar titled ‘My Country’ where she writes in the second verse: “I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains, of ragged mountain ranges, O drought and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel sea, Her beauty and her terror – The wide brown land for me.”
Wayne states: “Travelling the outback brings that particular verse to life where the land and the sky become one with nothing to see but the curvature of the earth.
“This country makes you realise just how foreboding it is – how hard life is living in this environment and how easily it is for life to be squandered. The incipient blue sky stretching to the horizon and the sun pouring
its unfiltered energy onto the rocks and gravel bouncing back creating illusions of vast seas in the distance emphasising the magnitude of the land.
“Standing in this wide brown land gives you the feeling of your own insignificance provides an element of beauty and terror.”
Wayne hopes that the viewers of the exhibition will enjoy these images of our wonderful sunburnt country.
The exhibition was opened by professional photographer Lyle Radford and runs until July 9.
The ARTtime Gallery is located at 203 Brisbane Street, Ipswich, and is open Monday to Saturday. Entry is free.
