Much of Australia’s population clings to the coastline. Yet, we are fascinated with the ‘outback,’ a romanticised and mystical place at once extraordinarily beautiful and terrifying in its remoteness. It is a captivating dichotomy.
Australian photojournalist Adam Ferguson draws on these embedded cultural narratives to tell a very human story in his first monograph, Big Sky, published by GOST. Over a decade, Ferguson travelled from Western Australia to the Northern Territory and the far reaches of South Australia and New South Wales. There, he met and photographed individuals whose resilience lifts from the page, not always in joyful tones but with uncontested rawness.
Ferguson’s photographs are quintessentially Australian and as unforgiving in their honesty as the environments in which they exist. Against landscapes bleached by the scorching sun or wrenched asunder by mining and agriculture, Ferguson shows what contemporary life looks like in some of the most isolated parts of the continent.
In Big Sky there is no glossing over the fact that living in communities that are economically depressed and bereft of the opportunities that we city slickers take for granted is hard; in the lines etched into faces, in the vulnerable gazes of youth, in the tangled limbs of drunken partygoers, and the stoicism of a solitary figure, this is life in the outback.
In his thoughtfully composed portraits, Ferguson shows us the unique signatures of those he depicts, each image telling a complex story. Ferguson’s compositions, his skills in portraiture and his play with light afford a multidimensional reading.
As the book unfolds, the subtle notes and complex narratives in Ferguson’s storytelling emerge. The portrait of the young ringer who works with a cattle company in the Northern Territory on a remote station shows the rigours of the man’s job, in the dust and grime of his clothing, the evident weariness in his body. The man is pictured kneeling before a bush in full bloom, its brilliant magenta flowers filling the frame with an unexpected burst of colour. It is both a portrait and a picture of improbability; how do these two life forms exist in such an environment? The image raises more questions than it answers, a recurring theme.
In other portraits, uncertainty and hope sit side by side, sentiments evidenced in the wistful looks of young women who are full of the promise of the future despite the dilapidated environments in which they pose. Young men show resilience, and some express defiance or bravado. Others exude pride. In another photograph, two young Indigenous sisters sit atop an escarpment looking out across the ancient landscape. They both wear Taylor Swift t-shirts, a visual nod to the reaches of popular culture and affirmation that kids will be kids no matter where they live.
The GOST production is remarkable, an exquisite large format design that privileges the images displayed on crisp, clean, heavy white stock. The deep cobalt blue cloth cover shimmers with silver metallic specs, like stars scattered across the night sky, Australia’s Big Sky.
Alison Stieven-Taylor
Adam Ferguson : Big Sky
GOST Books
290 x 350 mm portrait,
88pp, 46 images
Hardback
ISBN standard 978-1-915423-44-3
ISBN signed 978-1-915423-45-0
www.gostbooks.com
