Flood to Dust

7 May - 3 July 2022 | NOW ON SHOW
Western Plains Cultural Centre Dubbo

Flood to Dust is a body of work that captures the Australian landscape at its rawest, revealing at times its vulnerability to the natural elements but also its strength in continually pushing forward. Photo-media artist Tayla Martin pays homage to the role of the landscape in shaping the regional story and emphasises the importance of community spirit that has been built from each challenge and triumph, reflecting the true expression of human resilience.

“I started working on Flood to Dust during the millennial drought, primarily through the Summer of 2019. Summer in the outback is typically hard, it’s extremely hot and dry, however it wasn’t a typical Summer. It was bone dry, with not a drop of rain in sight, smoke filled the air from nearby the bushfires, everything was red. Trees in the middle of paddocks were being watered by hand to provide shade for stock to stay alive. Cacti were dying. I grew up hearing the stories of the 1990 flood that swept through my hometown of Nyngan, and how everyone rallied to help build a levee bank which they hoped would save the town, however the banks eventually burst and the town was engulfed in water, but their resilience pushed on.”

People living in regional Australia have built a special kind of resilience.
Resilience to the environment.
Resilience that is created beyond their control.

Now on show until Sunday 3 July 2022 at Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo NSW.

*Not all works are included in exhibition.

Exhibition Essay
Written by Mariam Abboud

“The Australian landscape continuously amazes. Over the last four years it has been ravaged by drought, bushfires and floods, only to bounce back, rejuvenated. It is the flow-on effect of these natural disasters on regional communities that have captured the eye of documentary photographer Tayla Martin. Through her latest body of work ‘Flood to Dust’, Martin has sought to understand the social and economic impacts of these disasters and how resilience is formed within her own community.

Flood to Dust is an exhibition of photography and video, that aims to capture the everyday stories of regional people and the communities that have undergone hardships in recent times. Building on previous photographic works featuring community, and the stories of the 1990s flood that inundated Nyngan told to her from childhood by her Grandmother. The driving force in Martin’s practice, is to expose the stories of endurance that so often coincide with living regionally. Martin utilises portraiture to capture each of her sitters in their environment. This simple act of photographing them in a space most comfortable to them, provides a rare glimpse of what inspires their resilience. Each subject has something in common; they are from the land; each having experienced the impact of the last few years or decades. This style of documentary photography is similar to the work of American “New Deal” photographers Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, who documented cross-sections of rural communities during the Great Depression. Their photography aimed to depict the harsh realities of rural life in America, as an attempt to convey deeper truths about the human condition.

Martin’s work titled ‘Checking of the Dam,’ depicts the vast destruction caused by drought and highlights the extremes of the Australian climate. In this photograph, her subject is seen inspecting the damage to the landscape in an attempt to make sense of the current predicament. Photography is a universal language that can speak to the heart, evoking emotions such as compassion, sorrow and empathy. It a medium that gives voice to Martin, as these photographs serve a particular purpose; to document a specific moment in time that plays on the empathy and compassionate nature of humanity. It is here that viewers are able to witness and have a clear viewer of the trauma that is being experience, whilst at the same time share in the anguish of the sitter.

Martin’s practice and subsequently work lends itself to that of American photographer Gordon Parks, who from the 1940s-1970s photographed unprivileged African American who were struggling with poverty, social injustice and marginalisation. Parks’ photographs captured the humane side of all people, to bring light to their struggles and hardship and ultimately show a side of a countries history which so easily can be forgotten. Photograph is a powerful tool that can be used to shed light and provide context to periods of time that are rarely spoken about; it is here that Martin uses this medium to reflect of the hardship and in this instance one of the worst periods an individual could experience in living memory.”

Essay by Mariam Abboud
Western Plain Cultural Centre Curator - Dubbo Regional Council

Tayla Martin lives and works in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Flood to Dust is a HomeGround exhibition, WPCC’s emerging regional artist program.

The HomeGround program is proudly supported by Orana Arts and is a partnership with Wingewarra Dental.