Join Me Behind the Scenes of Lightbourne

Join Me Behind the Scenes of Lightbourne

Welcome to the first blog in the making of Lightbourne, my upcoming exhibition at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts. Along the way, you'll see what I'm working on, what I'm exploring, and the side quests I find myself on. Join me; you may find that you indeed like it 😉

First up, last weekend, I had the pleasure of sharing my photographic practice with the Townsville Orchid Society. Using only natural light, I showcased examples created in the soft shadows of my kitchen, images that anyone in the room could try at home. It is in these small experiments that the magic really begins.

Many members were excited to offer me their orchids to photograph, gifts that would become subjects, given a second life and become storytellers of strength, memory, and transformation.

I shared a finished photographic artwork that once hung in Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, an image made from an orchid that had dried naturally on my desk. Many were curious about how the flowers had dried and whether I would photograph the flowers in full colour. Loving a low-effort solution, the answer is simply leaving the flowers alone to sit on my desk, and intermittently, I would pick them up and photograph them. As for photographing flowers in full colour, why, of course! But I simply couldn’t ask that and have anyone think I would expect them to remove their living flowers from their plants!

It appeared that I had picked the best meeting to attend as there was a presentation on the 2025 Asia Pacific Orchid Conference and Taiwan International Orchid Show. Amazing displays of orchids woven into immersive installations, suspended and cascading in lush displays. It reminded me of the technology-driven flower displays of teamLab I'd examined in my thesis research; however, here they were using fresh blooms! Plus two members at the meeting casually mentioned they served as international judges, to which I had no idea that our local club was so connected to the world stage, which also seemed to surprise some of their own members 😆

And then, in the best way possible, the meeting came to an end... WITH A SERIES OF RAFFLES! And you know who always wins a raffle 😎 yeah that's right, I walked away with a nice bottle of wine, which to me was an amazing end to afternoon, with many of the members leaving with arms of plants they'd won, to which I was happy to take the drinks off their hands, after all, there's a reason I don't grow my own flowers; it's impossible!