East Africa's Great Migration of wildebeest, zebra and antelope has
continued for centuries, despite the challenges of disease, climate
changes and increasing pressures from local communities and
tourism developments. One of the great spectacles occurs when
the herds have to traverse the few rivers in their path. Our guide
was frustrated by the crossing places of old no longer being used;
the wildebeest were now trying untested and unsuitable locations.
On the day we were leaving, a different search strategy put us on
high and scrub-covered banks and immediately adjacent to the
first group of wildebeest coming ashore. The animals were being
taken by the unfamiliar currents of deep water and had to struggle
to get close to the far bank. There were few rocks on which to land
and the initial orderly progression soon became a desperate
struggle of clambouring over and pushing down on the animals
closer to the bank. The river became a cauldron of struggling and
dying animals; the cries and moans and the desperate looks were
indeed a portrait of hell on earth. Within minutes, the riverbank
was lined with drowned wildebeest that were eventually marooned
on rocks well downstream where the vultures and crocodiles were
waiting.
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
