John A Williams - After Tom/ Paradise Creek

John A Williams is a photographer committed to imaging the Australian landscape. His photographs help us to understand and appreciate the complexities and wonder it holds whilst avoiding the many cliches that surround its depiction. The "Tom" in the title of this exhibition is Tom Roberts, the painter, who after 10 years devoted to depicting the Australian landscape, turned his back on it and returned to England. His Australian career rests on about seven paintings made around Paradise Creek. Williams' series of black and white photographs are a celebration of what Roberts left behind and neglected to include in his depictions, especially the grasstrees, giants of the bush which stud the landscape. After Tom/Paradise Creek is also an exploration of the choices one makes as an artist and the sometimes all too heavy yoke of artistic tradition which weighs upon depiction.