Swollen Warrego River, Kunja Country, Cunnamulla, Queensland, 2022 © Adam Ferguson
"The country’s occupation and colonial legacy has meant a deep dispossession of traditional custodians from their lands, language and culture. And while the modern Australian state has progressed, the land has been plundered."
Artist: Adam Ferguson
Project: Big Sky
Book published by GOST Books
The annual Come by Chance Christmas Tree, Weilwan Country, New South Wales, 2018 © Adam Ferguson
Isla Hughes, a governess from a remote cattle station, New Year’s Day party, Tibooburra Family Hotel, Wongkumara Country, New South Wales, 2017 © Adam Ferguson
A high-based thunderstorm moves across drought-affected land, Kunja Country, Tuen, Queensland, 2018 © Adam Ferguson
Adam Ferguson began photographing Australia’s interior in 2013 in an attempt to dispel sentimental and outdated narratives around the ‘Outback’—a place central to the identity and development of modern day Australia. His photographic survey, made over a 10-year period, depicts fading traditional events, shrinking small towns,
Aboriginal connection to Country, the impacts of globalisation and the adversity of climate change to illustrate the complex realities of contemporary life in the ‘Outback’.
Chairs secured from flooding, Iningai Country, Lake Huffer Station, Queensland, 2017 © Adam Ferguson
Dwayne John, off-siding a commercial kangaroo shooter, Adnyamathanha Country, Plumbago Station, South Australia, 2017 © Adam Ferguson
Opal field, Antakirinja Matu-Yankunytjatjara Country, Coober Pedy, South Australia, 2017 © Adam Ferguson
Pintupi-Luritja Lutheran Pastor Simon Dixon, Ikuntji/Haast Bluff, Arrernte Country, Northern Territory, 2023 © Adam Ferguson
"After years living and photographing abroad, I embarked on this body of work in an attempt to understand a place I had left behind. My family history epitomised a social fabric that once enmeshed Australia’s iconic bush towns. Pastoralism has been an integral part of its history, transforming the region's culture, landscape, workforce, and driving the national economy. Yet the realities of the bush are complex and layered. The country’s occupation and colonial legacy has meant a deep dispossession of traditional custodians from their lands, language and culture. And while the modern Australian state has progressed, the land has been plundered."
Contract shearers from Longreach George Smith, 50 and his son Conan Wakefield, 30, Iningai Country, Marchmont Station near Ilfracombe, Queensland, 2017 © Adam Ferguson
Environmental degradation and the release of dirty water by Water NSW caused the largest ever fish kill on the Baaka/Darling river, Minandichi/Menindee, Barkandji Country, New South Wales, 2023 © Adam Ferguson
Rikeisha Culla, Kardu Yek Yederr Clan, Magati Ke language group, and Bridget Perdjert, Kardu Thithay Diminin Clan, Murrinhpatha language group, Kardu Yek Diminin Country, Wadeye, Northern Territory, 2023 © Adam Ferguson
The ‘Outback’ has no demarcated border but refers to Australia’s vast and sparsely populated interior—73 percent of Australia’s territory, more than two million square miles—is inhabited by just 5 percent of its 24 million people. In spite of its relatively small population it is an important and diverse segment which defines the character of the country and has been mythologised in poetry, song, literature and screen.
Ferguson was originally inspired by Richard Avedon’s portrait project, ‘In the American West’—which shattered romantic notions of the west. Ferguson’s project is similar in scope and ambition but stylistically divergent. As the project evolved it became evident that portraiture alone could not narrate the stories of the people he met.
"Part of the experience of living in this huge, sweeping landscape is the relationship each individual has with the land and environment. It made sense to position everybody in the spaces they occupy. I wanted to construct a scene which complemented, or reinforced the stories of the people I photographed."
Wendy Clarke, 59, Kokatha Country, Andamooka, South Australia, 2020 © Adam Ferguson
© Adam Ferguson published by GOST Books
Editor : Ecaterina Rusu