PROGRAMME NOTES

Portraits of Queensland explores the vast and unique natural habitat and weather phenomena of the sunshine state. From the hot, never-ending sunshine to the intense storms the land experiences, Queensland is truly like no other place on earth. In my time living here, I have seen animals, bugs, trees, flowers, and skylines that have reshaped my world view. Here the horizon looks different, colours intensify and mute, and the sky is filled with birdcalls like no other.

I: The sun rises /early morning in the cool air

Queensland is full of early risers and one quickly realises why. There is a point in the early sunrise where the temperature is perfect. One gains relief from the cool, nighttime air, and it is not yet the point of day where the sun beams down in an unsettlingly hot manner. The landscape is beautiful at this time of day; warm, orange sun flecked through leaves, pale blue skies with streaks of pink and grey. The natural world is waking up too. One might see a lizard or a spider on their morning walk. The cafes are bustling but there is not yet the drone of traffic on the road. The time goes slowly, with a meditative quality as the sky lights up above us.

II: Sticky heat / unrelenting sun

The sunshine state is true to it’s name. Most days a harsh, burning sun beams down on the people below. The ground is hot and you can see the tar bubbling on the road, the smell rising with a faint layer of steam. It is these days that I am most conscious of the wetlands: the swamps, creeks, and mangroves that fill the state. You can smell the humidity in the thick air and your skin is covered in a thin layer of sweat that never seems to fully dissipate. The world is lush, intense, and beautiful.

III: Thunderous rains / tropical storms

My first day in Queensland I arrived in 35 degree heat and hot sun. An hour later I experienced my first Queensland storm. Watching through my bedroom window I saw trees blowing sideways in the wind, the sky and land opaque with grey, pelleting rain, and hail stones the size of tennis balls pelted the ground. Thunder boomed and lightning struck the ground in thick, angry bolts. The wind was as loud as the rain and hail on my tin roof. It felt simultaneously like something out of a movie and incredibly alive. It lasted about half an hour and the sun returned almost immediately.

IV: Dappled light through trees / after the storm

The immediate return to stillness after a storm is something so unique to Queensland it is hard to describe without experiencing it. There is no grey period, no cold air a few hours after the rain. There is simply the storm, and then sunshine. Watching the sun’s dappled light refract through the still-wet leaves is close to a religious experience. Knowing the trees were fighting against the wind just moments ago, and are now upright and regal proves how vast and changing nature is. There is a silence in the air after a storm as bird recuperate and spiders rebuild their webs. It is a universal knowing, and a beautiful one at that.

V: The sun sets / saltwater in the air

Watching the sunset from any beach in Queensland is unique. The sand goes a golden colour and the water a muted blue. It feels like something out of a painting. A true moment of rest. I remember intensely the feeling of dried saltwater on my skin, mixed with the type of sweat only created by the Queensland sun. The satisfying tiredness of a day by the water. The sky forms all sorts of colours and gradients: shades of pink, orange, red, yellow, purple. It is as though the earth is content, breathing relief into the end of the day.