'ASK THE DUST' BY HARLEIGH ENGLISH
Through photography and found documents Harleigh English’s project creates a narrative exploring themes of placement, seclusion, and the idea of “home”, identity and the connection to our environment. His project focuses on the towns and people (mainly Broken Hill) that piece it together. During his residency Harleigh photographed the city, informally interviewed and met the community and collected found documents to piece together its history and the people who reside there. The aim was to create a dialogue formed out of these people’s lives, underlining the characteristics of the working-class people, as well as commenting on our own connection with the land in this country and how we situate ourselves in it. The project correlates with the primary element of Earth and uses black and white and colour film (water being a primary element used in the process of development) to capture the colour and vibrancy of Broken Hill.