Cemetery of Trees

David Starr Photographer

The Kosciusko bushfires of 2003 ravaged the NSW Snowy Mountain region leaving a hauntingly beautiful landscape. Leafless and seemingly lifeless. White trunked trees left abandoned, stripped by the wind, bleached by the sun, stranded in silence. The stark landscape populated by ghosts, a reminder of resilience and impermanence in both the human condition and the natural environment.

The initial bushfire wrought terror and havoc. A shock to all lifeforms. However, the Australian landscape’s ability to recover from the devastation of bushfire is legendary. Recovery takes time, but not all trees survive. Sydney photographer, David Starr, documented the Guthega region a decade later over a period of three years. The exhibition explores the impact of decimation and time on a landscape; the space in between death and life. Stillness. Silence. An uncertain suspension.