Memories on the Edge

• Photographer
  Karen Lunney, Australia
• Studio
  Cindual Pty Ltd

For many Australians, annual holidays involve a decamping of
life to the beach, a settling into new rules and routines, and
becoming part of that most interesting transition zone where
the land meets the ocean. The air-water interface plays tricks on
the eyes, the camera responds differently in the portrayal of
emotional tone; being engulfed in the turbulent surf often
transforms the photographer’s view in unexpected ways.
Memories of youth seen through the prism of a turbulent adult
life can be sharp or fractured, soft or harsh: often simplified,
idealised and abstracted.

Karen Lunney is a contemporary photographic artist working out of Brisbane and North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, Australia. Her work investigates the liminal space - a state of transition, a place of possibility, where one thing has ceased and another not yet started. All levels of existence share in this phenomenon. The light of dawn and dusk, the ocean-land interface and the migration of animals all represent forms of liminality. The cultural transitions of peoples forced to westernise, not sure what culture to save into their new modernity and the climatic changes causing paroxysms around the globe both produce uncertainties for the future with consequences for many.

Awards 2014 IPA Nature Photographer of the Year
2014 IPA Wildlife Photographer of the Year
4th Documentary section 2013 International Loupe Awards
4th Wildlife section 2014 International Loupe Awards
Finalist 2014 Smithsonian Photography Competition
Finalist 2014 Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Finalist 2014 HIPA Dubai