“More than merely a focus on place itself, over the last 5 years I have been pushing to explore the notions of where we fit within that place. The foundation of this pursuit lies in simplicity; a philosophical commitment to returning to slow. The Australian landscape provides the perfect vehicle to traverse this idea and provides a visceral and lively questioning of modernity. My practice represents and informs a more lucid worldview that challenges the relentless pace of contemporary life and searches for what is most important.”
The nature of finding a middle ground between familiar and unfamiliar landscapes is incredulous. A sense of place within landscape is marred, inextricable from our past environments. Max Berry's residency period solidifies time and place as a freeze frame, presented to us through the artist’s hand and camera. There is a starkness here – both to the images and also to the feelings felt in movement of an unfamiliar line of sight. Nothing is naturalised. There is a sense of wonder in the smallest of the small. Berry moves between both painting and photography to present a soliloquy of solitude and stillness that comes from the harshness of nature unbounded.