University of Hertfordshire   2002/2003

Julie Hayes-Thomas

I recently spent four years living in and travelling around Australia. My travels into the interior visiting the awe inspiring landscape, once inhabited by the Aboriginal people, was a moving experience.

In the Red Centre, the great monolith Uluru (Ayers Rock) confronts the traveller, not only with its physical form, but also a metaphsycal presence in the form of myths and legends associated with these prehistoric monuments. These myths of aboriginal law and legend add to this powerful feeling of connection with spiritual powers. So despite the stillness of the vast endless plains, the landscape seems to teem with the life of these ancestors from the mysterious Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. Aboriginal spirituality is interwoven with this landscape. My work is a response to this.