The Mount Buangor State Park is a short distance from the studio at my rural farming property west of Ballarat.

On visiting the park for the first time the prevailing view was of burnt and fallen trees due to a recently conducted controlled burn.

This series of bush landscapes depict the reality of Australia’s natural environment and climate, the reality of which is that there are always patches of forest where bush fires have passed through, where the ferocity of the fire has burnt and blackened the landscape.

Emotional responses to the burnt landscapes depends on the viewers own point of reference and past experiences. For me, the blackened trunks do not carry negative connotations, instead it reflects a sense of regeneration. At odds with its destructive nature, only the heat from a bushfire fire can trigger germination in certain native flora — a hopeful light amongst the blackened trunks of the charred forest.