This series documents an attempt to immerse myself in the only nature available to me in Melbourne where I was living, namely, the so-called ‘nature strips’ around my neighborhood. Nature strips are a feature of Australian suburbia: little green patches between the street and the sidewalk, where plant life is allowed in a contained site. They are a liminal, threshold space between public and private, because they are public land, but are cultivated (or not) but the residents whose houses are closest to them.
Physically getting into these green spaces, and immersing myself in what nature they could offer me, turned into a kind of tiny rebellion, a performative assertion of inner sovereignty, performed for self and camera. How close can I get to the natural world while living my life in the city?
This series is about a longing to reconnect with nature and the absurdity of attempting to fulfil this wish in the middle of an urban environment. It’s also about the indefatigable wild growth of the plant kingdom amongst the cement and concrete with which we are covering up more and more of the earth. Even a very small dose of nature is still medicine.