Night Gardens

Much of photography is observation. Annie spends a lot of time in her garden just watching the insects go about their daily life, observing how they interact with the plants, and how the garden forms its own little interdependent ecosystem.

The longer she has farmed, the more she has learnt about these complex relationships and gardening has taught her much more about leaving nature to herself. Given time, she can and will heal herself. Pests will have predators so there is little need for pesticides once a garden has achieved a natural balance.

Annie's ongoing research about Roselyn revealed, not surprisingly, that she was carved out of virgin bush. Like much of the Wheatbelt, the land was cleared for agriculture from the 1850s as the then growing Swan River Colony (now Perth) needed to feed itself. Early agriculture was slow in its progression but after the Second World War, it expanded and accelerated rapidly thanks to machinery and advances in agricultural chemicals. Since colonisation, more than 90% of the Wheatbelt has been cleared and with it the natural habitats of fauna and flora.

Learning this, Annie realised why she had seen so few wildflowers near or on the farm. In fact, the ‘wildflowers’ observed were actually imported plants, many from South Africa, and have become declared weeds. On top of this is the growing recognition around the world of the decline of pollinating insects with some studies citing a staggering 70% loss which is also a focal point of her work.

Night Gardens is an ongoing series of works that explores the role moths play in the environment as night pollinators. There are more than 10,000 species of moths in Australia compared to 400 butterfly species. The moths are believed to be less plant-specific than butterflies, filling in the gaps left by other pollinators.

Pas de deux (part 1) first exhibited at Gallery 152, York, March-May 2021, “Of Flora and Fauna” (see images on this page). In 2022 Night Gardens - Parle debuted at Annie's exhibition Alice - between parlour and garden in Fremantle, WA and Night Gardens - Parle encoure was shown at Alice - conversations with flowers. in York, WA.