Big Sky

Adam Ferguson began photographing Australia’s interior in 2013 in an attempt to dispel sentimental and outdated narratives around the ‘Outback’—a place central to the identity and development of modern day Australia. His photographic survey, made over a 10-year period, depicts fading traditional events, shrinking small towns, Aboriginal connection to Country, the impacts of globalisation and the adversity of climate change to illustrate the complex realities of contemporary life in the ‘Outback’.

The ‘Outback’ has no demarcated border but refers to Australia’s vast and sparsely populated interior—73 percent of Australia’s territory, more than two million square miles—is inhabited by just 5 percent of its 24 million people. In spite of its relatively small population it is an important and diverse segment which defines the character of the country and has been  mythologised in poetry, song, literature and screen. 

Ferguson was originally inspired by Richard Avedon’s portrait project, ‘In the American West’—which shattered romantic notions of the west. Ferguson’s project is similar in scope and ambition but stylistically divergent. As the project evolved it became evident that portraiture alone could not narrate the stories of the people he met. 

‘Part of the experience of living in this huge, sweeping landscape is the relationship each individual has with the land and environment. It made sense to position everybody in the spaces they  occupy. I wanted to construct a scene which complemented, or reinforced the stories of the people I photographed.’