CHEVIOT BEACH

Cathy Laudenbach

29th August - 11th October 2008 | CCAS Gorman

From the early days of settlement European Australians have had an uneasy relationship with the land. While settlers may have grown to "love a sunburnt country", the shimmering heat, wide open spaces and innumerable miles of perilous coast line not only met explorers with desiccation or drowning, but also challenged the British mindset to its very core. Australia is a long, long way from England's 'pastures green' and the country has produced a mix of fear and fascination for both settlers and their descendants. Its a love hate relationship that over the last 200 or so years has produced a home grown mythology - that of the lost or missing person, swallowed up, as it were, by the land itself. While European history is full of appearance (apparitions) Down Under it seems that the opposite applies.

Cathy Laudenbach's photographs take on the difficult task of grappling with notions of the land and its capricious nature by reproducing images of sites where people have mysteriously disappeared. Her images often emanate a seductive beauty and yet, tied as they are to specific events, they are also sometimes unassuming views. (David Broker, 2008)

Image: Cathy Laudenbach, Cheviot Beach, 2008, digital image