A Tool for Action
session and climate change, will art be a tool for action, a witness to
desolation, or merely a salve for our anxieties?
Nick Moir describes Solastalgia as “the home you have when you’re
still at home and your home is leaving you”. His photographs, taken
during the 2019 - 20 fire crisis in NSW, clearly document aspects of the
desolation. In addition to the one of firefighters running through the
shower of embers, the exhibited images include aspects of the Mt Wil-
son backburn which turned into the Grose Valley fire, and the raw pow-
er of a full crown fire. There is also a dramatic image of a fire truck sil-
houetted before a fire tornado or wall of flames, one of a jet aircraft
dumping pink fire retardant directly overhead, and an almost classical
shot of a boat burning in the Hillville fire.
Also in my review, I wrote “Art comes in various forms, photography
included, and can expose and assist to resolve issues of social justice.
Photos can help humanise our emotions when we need to voice our
concerns. As an illustrative and journalistic tool, the best photography
can inspire us to action. It can elicit an instinctual reaction. A photogra-
pher’s images should be an expression of her or his self, and images
taken can convey a message to others seeing them.”
So, if you see further photos of bushfires, storms, or other disasters im-
pacting our country or world, don’t only see them as a record. Think
about the idea of photographic, and other art, being used as a tool for
action to make our world a better place.
- Brian Rope
Nick Moir speaking before one of his images at the opening of ‘The Burning”
St Margaret’s News
5
February 2020