Roadside, a sub-theme in the Fleurieuscapes project, is informed by, and takes its bearings, from Joyce Evans intriguing 2013 body of work entitled Edge of the Road. The latter appears to have been forgotten in our photographic culture ---- sucked into its black hole.
Roadside emerges from walking the unsealed back country roads in Waitpinga, usually on poodlewalks, and it is concerned with both the state of side of the road, the road itself and the flux of the roadside.
The picture of illegal dumping of carp by local fishermen on Depledge Rd in Waitpinga was made on an early morning poodlewalk. The carp is slowly rotting on the side of the road. Not even the local foxes, who clean up all the dead bodies in the bushland, will eat the carp. Carp makes the standard poodles sick if they eat it.
So much for the assertion that recreational fishermen are in tune with, and respect, nature.
The image below is the side of Halls Creek Rd, a single lane road that is part of the Heysen Trail in Waitpinga. It was made in the late afternoon in December 2024 -- early summer in South Australia. I'm standing amidst the roadside vegetation between the fence marking the boundary of the grazing land (cattle) and the road.
Nearby, just to the right of my feet, there is some illegally dumped cuttings that look as if they have come from someone's garden. I kept on wondering why dump them when they could just put the cuttings into their green bin for recycling?
As I often walk these two roads I notice the small changes on the roadside, such as the not so hidden illegal dumping. The changes aren't noticeable when you drive along the road in a car, but they do show how some people treat nature -- it's there to be exploited for their benefit.
A fallen branch from a pink gum (Eucalyptus fasciculosa) along Baum Rd:
