Case studies
Beyond Reasonable Drought
Beyond Reasonable Drought was first developed in 2008, a time when much of Australia was in the midst of a crippling drought. The museum developed the travelling exhibition in association with the Many Australian Photographers Group (MAPgroup), drawing on the group’s collection of thousands of images of the effects of drought on the land and people of Australia.
Five years later, the exhibition was revitalised and returned to the road to find a landscape recovering not only from drought but also from the flooding rains that followed it, as is typical in this land of boom and bust.
In March 2013 the exhibition travelled to The G.R.A.I.N. Store in Nathalia, Victoria. The show attracted 1,571 visitors—an impressive figure for a town where the official population is barely 1,900.
As part of the visit to Nathalia, MAPgroup member Dale Mann conducted master classes in documentary photography for local residents. Armed with their cameras, participants ventured out to record people’s stories and images of the landscape. As part of the project each participant made a small donation to the local emergency services volunteers, the first responders in times of flood and fire.
The photographs taken by Dale and the members of the Nathalia community have become part of the Beyond Reasonable Drought website and are available for viewing at www.moadoph.gov.au/brd. Nathalia now has a photography club, which is hard at work on its first exhibition, planned for July 2013.
Beyond Reasonable Drought poses questions about the durability of our national character in the wake of dramatic weather events. The mark of a great exhibition is its ability to galvanise the members of a community to seek out answers for themselves. Nathalia rose to the challenge, and the effects of Beyond Reasonable Drought will resonate within the town for some time to come.
Images from Beyond Reasonable Drought. Photo: Heather Henderson and Michelle Ryan