JESSIE BOYLAN
EAST-WEST
There’s something precious about the simpleness of a journey, of seeing things with fresh eyes, or simply seeing, watching from a distance, almost unattached to the befores and afters … with a free imagining of what once was.
However, when travelling to the US and New Zealand I took with me my social and political understanding of these places, (like Australia, they are products of ongoing colonisation and environmental pillage, as well as deep cultural heritage and traditions) and knew that I was always going to see these things.
These photographs are a combination of a yearning to learn histories and understand deeper socio-political struggles, as well as document the simpleness of a journey; a journey which allowed for me both intimate personal experiences as well as fleeting, passing moments with strangers and places that will never be relived.
BIOGRAPHY
Jessie Boylan is a photographer based in Bullarto, Victoria, she is currently doing her MFA at Monash University. Her work looks at the human impact on the land as well as ideas of memory and place in relation to contemporary Australian identity, community and activism. Jessie was a finalist in the Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Photography Award, 2013, 2009 and 2007, the Spirit of Youth Awards 2009, the Head On Alternative Portrait Awards, 2009 & 2010, and a winner of the Friends of the Earth International Photography Competition 2009.
Jessie also produces a weekly half hour radio segment for 3CR 855am called ‘The Radioactive Show‘ – which covers nuclear issues in Australia and Internationally. Jessie is a member of the Atomic Photographers Guild which is made up of 26 members world-wide, who aim to render visible all aspects of the nuclear age. Jessie does multimedia work for the Mineral Policy Institute, who investigate the social and environmental impacts of mining in Australia and the Pacific. To view more of Jessie’s work, visit her website.