Combining a love of flying and photography Richard Tabaka has captured amazing images that will be showcased in the upcoming Out There Nowhere exhibition at Hinkler Hall of Aviation.
On a journey from Ballina to Birdsville in his small open cockpit aircraft, Richard documented the maze-like patterns seen from a bird’s eye view.
Capturing photographically the essence and beauty of the Queensland landscape, Out There Nowhere is a series of contemporary Queensland landscape images.
Richard said the exhibition invoked illusory worlds that disrupted the boundaries between the real form of the land and fragments of someone’s creative imagination.
His artwork intertwines the medium of painting and realm of photography.
“The images transcend the usual depiction of the land leaving reality indecipherable,” Richard said.
“Instead, they bring forward questions, thoughts, dreams and hidden symbolism, sense of spirituality so often and strongly associated with Indigenous people’s life rituals and beliefs as well as their art.”
Richard said Indigenous Australians were naturally and undisputedly bonded to the land.
“It is the foundation of their spirituality, traditions, knowledge and social infrastructure,” he said.
“It is this state of symbiosis from which notions are descended or originated creating their way of life, creative expressions, the earth, the medium and enabler.
“My role is to create the image deliberately avoiding an expression of my personal feelings and determined imagination and an expression of my thoughts.”
The exhibition aims can be considered at several levels, Richard said.
“At the subject level, the exhibition brings the subject of uniqueness of the Australian iconic outback aiming at every Australian as well as visitors to our country,” he said.
“At the level of form, the exhibition explores the boundary between realm of photography and painting and shows an inimitable way a camera and further image processing can be used to unveil different presentations of a traditional landscape.”
Out There Nowhere will be open to the community at Hinkler Hall of Aviation from 25 February to 20 April.
Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.
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