The Diary Game 05/07/23 | Wild West Australia part 2

🧡 Lake Ballard & sculptures - Anthony Gormley

As promised in my previous post, I will now tell about the continuation of the journey in the Victoria desert. After renting the off-road vehicle, we headed into the heart of the wild desert to feel what it really feels like. Until now, we had only seen these things in the movies. When we actually touched the real atmosphere, it felt like a dream come true. Asphalt is lacking, but the well-trodden road was unexpectedly acceptable.

Stepping out of the car, the gleaming white expanse of the lake dotted with the famous sculptures evokes an immediate sense of awe. Your eye is immediately drawn to an island not far away, whose wind-sculpted trees attract the attention of the photographic lens.

We found a suitable camping spot and pitched the tents. we decided that some of the few tall trees around would protect our tent camp.
It was no surprise to learn that Ballard Lake is a sacred place for the Wongi/Wangkata people carrying the Dreaming of the Seven Sisters and the islands are an important part of the story. Many Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia have a story of dreaming of the Seven Sisters, known to Europeans as the Pleiades constellation, a small group of stars best seen in the southern hemisphere.

A surreal landscape in which metal statues of 51 desert town dwellers inhabit ten square kilometers of glistening salt lake, beckoning both the eye and the feet.
Weird? Weird? Just weird?
Actually not!
If you've been to Uluru and felt deep and spiritual, you'll find something of the same in the mystical solitude of Ballard Lake-without the crowds.
And you can camp right next to it.

According to those who met him, Sir Anthony Gormley was an eccentric character, a British artist driven to explore the human form and its relationship to the cosmos – both natural and man-made – in his installations and sculptures.

You get to the edge and it's absolute magic. A feeling of being on the edge of infinity. It's like you're on the edge of the world.
This inspired the artist to plan an art installation called Inside Australia. According to him, he is trying to unite the idea of the interior of this continent with the idea of the interior of the population.

There are about 50 metal statuettes here, spread over about 10 square kilometers of the lake's surface. Not all sculptures can be seen from one point. A network of footpaths entices the visitor to wander and explore as far as the eye can see.

If there's one place to inspire you to take up wilderness photography, Ballard Lake is it. Every direction tempts the eye with a striking composition: bone-white lake, red rocks, blue sky, islands and steel sculptures. It's almost impossible to take a bad photo.The only thing I didn't get to do when I visited was camp overnight and take some sunset and star photos. Which of course is a very good excuse to come back!

That's it from me for now, stay tuned for my next inclusion:)))