Susan Purdy, Australia Phoenix: A Cosmology (detail), 2010. Gelatin silver photograms(unique state), 40.5 x 2100cm. Courtesy: the artist and Gallerysmith, Melbourne.

Australia Phoenix surveys the cyclical phenomenon of fire over hundreds of thousands of years and documents the role humanity plays in shaping this event.

Susan Purdy works with photograms to communicate ideas about fire and the environment. During the 2009 fires in Victoria she experienced this elemental force of nature in its wildest form, and was made inescapably aware that environment and climate govern our existence.

Australia Phoenix seeks to make sense of natural catastrophe and bring consciousness to bear on tragedy, understanding that through our deepest connection to nature we access its healing power. In a twenty-one metre sequence, the work tells a story about the cyclical nature of life and the inevitability of change.

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