About the artwork:

The Covid-19 lockdown forced upon me a discipline I am unused to. No longer free to roam where I chose for my photography, I was restricted to a very small area around my home. I was forced into a place that was both very familiar to me but also quite unknown, my own backyard. Fortunately my home is surrounded by native Australian bush and the winter of 2020 was a great year for native orchids. What started as a restriction to a small patch of land became a new world of orchids, wildflowers and insects. I spent hours covering no more than a few meters. The beauty of these small flowers revitalised me and gave me a purpose each day as I was never sure what new plant I would find in bloom each day. The spotted sun orchid became my favourite, with its vibrant pastel colours and delicate stem standing in defiance against the winter storms. These plants became my new world for the duration of lockdown, and I am now awaiting the 2021 winter in the expectation these plants will bloom again. In these photos I aimed to focus on the flower and exclude the rest of the world; this micro world knew nothing of the pandemic and I did not want any hint of the pandemic to intrude. I also wanted to present these flowers as almost like small paintings, water colours perhaps.