Recent Work, an exhibition by Australian photographer, Murray Fredericks, showcases a selection of large scale work from his Lake Eyre series and Topophilia, the Greenland Ice Sheets.
Lake Eyre is a continuation of Fredericks' Salt series, as previously exhibited at Hamiltons in Salt, 2007 and Salt II, 2009. Often travelling alone with a bicycle and trailer, carrying his large format camera and supplies, Fredericks navigated this vast area in Southern Australia in extreme weather conditions, taking both a physical and mental toll, in order to capture the perfect frames.
His work has evolved from large format colour photographs to grand scale panoramic scenes, 1.2 x 4.1 metre: ten to twenty frames assembled in one image. Each photograph within the Lake Eyre series was captured at night and marks a new technological leap for Fredericks which, he sites, "makes the work there worthwhile for me again."
"The project arose out of a desire to work in the most barren landscape that I could find. Lake Eyre was chosen as an appropriate location since its perfectly flat surface and razor sharp horizon provide a landscape devoid of features, which extends, once out on the Lake, in every direction." Fredericks.
Rather than covering multiple landscapes a single location is selected and the work concentrates on drilling into that frame, that environment, that circumstance. The subject is stripped to its essence through the methodology of repetition.
Murray Fredericks, Ice Sheet #4724, 2014 © Murray Fredericks
