My creative body of work makes allusion to a kind of quiet, slow human catastrophe, where our way of life is in a state of crisis. My images are devoid of people, yet imprinted everywhere with human presence. They depict places that are, to my eyes, everywhere in regional Australia. There is an undertone that our human condition is comfortably sedated, lost in an effortless world of melancholic bliss. It is in this milieu that we seek spurts of temporary happiness through consumerism, where each new acquisition is packaged with a formulaic promise of contentment, and sealed with all but invariably false sentiments such as “have a nice day”.i This is a world shaped by a sense of loss, of not having enough; a world ultimately ruled by fear. read more…
“Jamie Holcombe’s photographs in Civic Malaise reveal a landscape that is deserted and desolate. The people who built these structures and strung fences around to protect them from marauders or vandals have vanished. The tarmac may still be freshly laid in Coffin Bay; the solar panels, just installed, may still be gleaming in East Meets West; and the wire fences may still march crisply across the barren earth of Wave Rock. But elsewhere the paint is peeling in Outdoor Australia, and the gravestones are crumbling in South Bowenfels Cemetery. Stephen Payne June 2015″ read more…