Saturday, October 18, 2008

Landscapes and Memories



My daughter Rosie took these pictures for an assignment she's doing at the moment on cultural landscapes. Her chosen landscape is Dights Falls Park in Abbotsford. One of the photos I include here shows Dights falls, self evident, the other includes a grey eucalypt around which some one has tied a sprig of artificial orchids.
I have been haunted by this second image ever since I first came across it earlier this year when I visited the place with my husband. It is meant as a commemoration to a young woman, Lynette Phillips whose body was found in the Yarra River nearby. She was wrapped in a blue doona. The cause of her death is still unclear though it's evident she fell victim to foul play.

I have long loved the area for its haunting quality, more so now for its funereal quality. I can't go there without thinking about this young woman whom I never met. The memory of her is tied to the landscape.

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