days of heaven
Transcendental Australian Landscapes
Take a spiritual journey through the Australian landscape with DAYS OF HEAVEN , a unique series of transcendental photographs by Melbourne-based artist Colin Vickery.
Inspired by Zen philosophy, Vickery has used simple sculptural land forms contrasted against dramatic cloud-filled skies to produce a suite of large-scale colour images with a powerful spiritual intensity.
DAYS OF HEAVEN was shot along the Sturt Highway between Mildura and the South Australian border and through the Pyrenees region outside Ballarat in the Australian state of Victoria.
It took Vickery five years to complete the series because of the rare atmospheric conditions needed to produce each image. All of the photographs feature summer days when the fields have a golden hue and strong upper level winds stir the grey, cloud-filled sky into a maelstrom.
In these airy fields of muted colour, a tree can seem like a bonsai, a telegraph pole like a calligraphy stroke, a tin shed like a pebble in a Japanese garden.
"I have been incredibly lucky to capture these moments because they come from a combination of elements that probably occurs once in a decade and may only last for a few seconds at a time," Vickery says.
DAYS OF HEAVEN marks a further development in Vickery's quest to explore the spiritual possibilities of photography and follows the acclaimed earlier abstract series Presence and Essence.
"With DAYS OF HEAVEN , I was keen to bring a different sensibility to the way the Australian landscape is photographed," Vickery says. "I have endeavored to create images of this country which provide contemplative spaces for viewers to reflect on the infinite."
COLIN VICKERY