You Looked Different from Farther Away

 

Recalling the celebratory 1980's tradition of rendering iconic landscapes in knitted baggy jumpers decorated in pop coloured hues (think Jenny Kee), this work examines the disconnect between the lived and felt experience of a place and its representation in popular culture as it has been affected by geotourism.

 

This work was made in response to a recent trip to Geraldton. On the long drive up we stopped at the Pinnacles. It was the first time I'd ever encountered this landscape outside of postcards or depictions on TV. It struck me as equal parts familiar and at the same time not at all what I'd come to expect based on representations of this landscape I'd seen across souvenirs and postcards, tea towels, music videos and TourismWA videos.

 

As part of the making process for this work, the knitting of each image, one an appropriated postcard, and the other two photos I myself took, becomes a kind of meditation on what it means to have felt a place and the dissonance one feels with reconciling its image as part of a greater represented landscape.