Over the years growing up in
Barragga Bay our family became close friends with
Wes Stacey and his partner Narelle Perroux. During this time he showed me that an artist can create serious work and also have lots of fun just being yourself.
I was extremely lucky to have my childhood with someone like him around. Wes along with Harold Cazneaux is one of my favourite Australian photographers. I remember the first time I saw his book
"Timeless gardens" a photographic record of
Australian environments which included
coastal flora,
desert flora and even
underwater flora (coral reefs). I'd never considered that these were actual gardens to admire until he photographed them and highlighted this concept to me. It was quite a revelation and changed how I viewed the natural environment.
When I was 9 years old, I would walk the rocky coast to visit him and his partner. He was often full of energy and cooking something like pasta and loudly calling out to the commercial fishing boats. Saying things like "Allan catch a big fish mate! catch us a Bea-uty! And drop over for dinner, we don't mind we've got lots of pasta!!!"
I loved his place so much. It was hidden in the bush on the edge of the ocean with paths that blended into the environment. This clever camouflage was subtle but made his camp more secure and extremely hard to find unless you knew exactly were it was. Even the chimney was disguised as a
termites nest. To me it was designed like the ultimate cubby house, but it was actually a home. So it was the best of both worlds.
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Signing the land by Wes Stacey
'Remote shore'
A beautiful example of Wes capturing the south coast
coastline, which I'd often venture. |
