200 years isn't a long time in the history of an art form. Photography is an embryo compares to most forms of artistic expression. We are still trying to figure out how it works, what we should include, how we should interpret the results, even learn the language that has yet to be invented. We get tied up with the technical aspects and revel in the complexities of the New Form. In blinding ourselves with the external parameters of the process, the image within us can be lost.
With a single strand of reed from a billabong and a few jars of paint, Eric is able to weave a tapestry of his life and that of his country and ancestors in a slow and patient rigor that is beyond most of us. When he paints he is painting for a culture, his family and his decendents. The image forms is clear in its meaning. The story is as old as his culture. It is his dreaming which was that of his father and his father's father. His son's will dream in the same vivid way: he hopes.
He also paints for the tourists. He, like all artists, need to eat as well.
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Tom, I've just looked at all your pages. What a lovely fresh web-site. I enjoy all your explanations and empathy with the people you photograph. The images, as always, are special.
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