Ningaloo
The Ningaloo Reef
The Ningaloo Reef is a fringing reef, lying along the coast between a hundred metres or so and several kilometres offshore. It stretches for over 260km, from just north of Carnarvon to the tip of North-west Cape near Exmouth. In the early 2000’s I began a series of 5 large scale underwater drawings of the differing reef habitats to be found here. Completed over the ensuing four years, these drawings were to be the foundation for panoramic paintings, “ecoystem portraits”. Works combining art and science which I hoped would also serve as benchmarks for the health of the reef.
The Ningaloo Reef
The Ningaloo Reef is a fringing reef, lying along the coast between a hundred metres or so and several kilometres offshore. It stretches for over 260km, from just north of Carnarvon to the tip of North-west Cape near Exmouth. In the early 2000’s I began a series of 5 large scale underwater drawings of the differing reef habitats to be found here. Completed over the ensuing four years, these drawings were to be the foundation for panoramic paintings, “ecoystem portraits”. Works combining art and science which I hoped would also serve as benchmarks for the health of the reef.
Drawing Sites
Each year now I return to these drawing sites at the same time of year descend to the exact same spot from which I made the drawings, and take a photomosaic of the same reef scene. Now into its 20th year this sequence of photomosaics is building into a unique record of development and change on the reef.
To inspire and educate
I am hoping to inspire and educate a wider public and perhaps most importantly provide an antidote to insidious bracket creep. This is the universal condition whereby subsequent generations are unaware of how rich and diverse ecosystems were previously. Ningaloo Reef itself is still talked about in terms of its’ “pristine” condition, whereas it is severely overfished and in many ways it is actually sadly diminished.
A finished ecosystem portrait painting and underwater drawing have now been installed in the Life Gallery of the new WA Museum of Natural History which opened in November 2020. I am absolutely thrilled that this will bring to a vastly wider audience than I had hoped the messages I have long wanted this work to carry; that we are blessed with tremendous riches in our marine environment and a constant reminder that our natural world cannot be taken for granted.
To inspire and educate
I am hoping to inspire and educate a wider public and perhaps most importantly provide an antidote to insidious bracket creep. This is the universal condition whereby subsequent generations are unaware of how rich and diverse ecosystems were previously. Ningaloo Reef itself is still talked about in terms of its’ “pristine” condition, whereas it is severely overfished and in many ways it is actually sadly diminished.
A finished ecosystem portrait painting and underwater drawing have now been installed in the Life Gallery of the new WA Museum of Natural History which opened in November 2020. I am absolutely thrilled that this will bring to a vastly wider audience than I had hoped the messages I have long wanted this work to carry; that we are blessed with tremendous riches in our marine environment and a constant reminder that our natural world cannot be taken for granted.
