Tamara Dean Blurs the Boundary Between Our bodies and Pure Landscapes — Colossal

Based within the foothills of Cambewarra Mountain in New South Wales, Australia, Tamara Dean captures ethereal pictures that discover the intrinsic bond between the human physique and the pure world. She is pushed by what she describes as a want to “explore the reality that humans are not separate from nature, but intrinsically part of it.”

Using our bodies to precise this relationship, the figures inside her compositions don’t emerge as distinguished topics of portraiture. Instead, they exist as components embedded inside every scene, typically rising as extensions of surrounding flora. “I am interested in those moments when the body appears to merge with the landscape, becoming almost plant-like, animal-like or elemental, suggesting that we are participants in nature rather than observers of it,” she explains.

“Introversion” depicts crouching figures hiding inside frilly blue tutus that imitate their neighboring flowers, calling to an nearly instinctive impulse to camouflage. In a vibrant pop of colour, two scorching pink-haired heads in “In Bloom” mimic close by lotus flower buds, ready to bloom alongside lotus vegetation.

Gesture is an integral a part of Dean’s course of. While directing the figures inside her work, the photographer explains, “I often encourage them to respond intuitively to their surroundings. At times, this involves reflecting the structures, rhythms, or symmetries found in nearby flora and foliage through their physical placement, posture, or gesture.” These seen idiosyncrasies additional the dynamic change between human and different life types.

Lately, Dean has spent extra time portray. “It’s something I have always done quietly in the background as part of my creative process,” she explains. “But only now that my children are 19 and 20 have I been able to dedicate myself to it more fully. I’m enjoying the challenge of working in a different medium and the change in perspective it brings.”

These work, alongside a number of images, will probably be included in a forthcoming solo exhibition early subsequent 12 months at Michael Reid in Sydney. Find Dean on Instagram to observe alongside together with her ongoing interdisciplinary explorations.