NYCTOPHILE

We commonly associate night and darkness with mystery, potential threat, and the spectral realm. These attributes also happen to describe the presence of women in the Australian bush according to bush narratives. While the fragility of the human condition in the wilderness is often represented in the form of a lost or victimised female body in the bush, every so often the female body in the bush is also indicative of antagonism, transgression, and the erotic – themes and issues also associated with the night. This photographic series explores the relationship between the nocturnal Australian bush and femininity. It visually articulates how this link communicates Australian Gothic notions of the psychological impact of darkness, haunting of the past, anxieties of becoming lost in the bush but also the threat of unwanted discoveries, as well as transgression against colonial gender ideals.