Landscape photography and the imaginary of an Australian Gothic

Landscape photography and the imaginary of an Australian Gothic is a practice-based research project that<br>identifies and responds to the concept of the Gothic through the medium of landscape photography.<br>The research investigates the social and cultural significance of the Gothic imaginary and ideas relating<br>to the Australian landscape. Notions of the Gothic, as a condition and way of thinking about landscape,<br>are predominately European, however representations of the Australian natural environment in cinema,<br>art and literature make reference to tropes that although distinctly Australian in context are integral to<br>the Gothic mode.<br><br>In the search for an Australian Gothic a phenomenological approach guides the project and final image<br>capture reflecting my responses to the Australian landscape. Although rarely discussed as a mode in the<br>visual arts, the Australian Gothic may be identified through the mapping of its occurrence in and through<br>cultural narratives and assumptions of the Australian landscape. A community of practice is additionally<br>revealed constructing a synopsis of the Australian Gothic in visual, literary and filmic practices, furnishing<br>a framework through which to contextualise and further analyse the research.<br>Through the medium of photography my research seeks to address a gap in the knowledge of the<br>Australian Gothic in visual language, thus contributing new knowledge and understanding of the Gothic<br>that can lead to an understanding and analysis of a nations’ imagined psyche.