During the COVID-19 pandemic, South Africa based artist Christopher Rimmer was compelled back to Australia. Unable to leave, he set off on an intrepid adventure through the outback to create his new series, Remnant: The Tragedy of Lost Significance, launching internationally through Art & Collectors in Fitzroy on 20 May 2024.
Journeying to some of the country’s most isolated regions, the twenty-one photographs capture abandoned towns, railways, disintegrating cars, mysterious sculptures in the desert and the effects of climate change.
The series features photographs of the old Ghan Railway and soldier resettlements, two schemes that failed in the 20th century and evoke for Rimmer, the fragility of human ambition – “if ambition exists simply as a salve for status anxiety, then it certainly can be dangerous, both psychologically and environmentally.”
Journeying through the outback was also a personal challenge. “There is a very romantic history of the photographer on the road in search of subject matter and I wanted to be that guy,” reflects Rimmer while also acknowledging the risk, “there is no margin for error and a simple mistake can cost you dearly, sometimes with your life.”
Across his travels, Rimmer happened across a campsite untouched since the 1930s, the impression of a fallen meteor, space junk and Aboriginal tools.
Rimmer – known for working with international subject matter – has not debuted a series set in Australia since 2016. In 2015 he was nominated by US magazine Art Business News as a ‘Top Artist to Watch’. Combining his talent and unique perspective, Rimmer captures dreams of the Australian desert through a compelling lens.
Remnant: The Tragedy of Lost Significance will be at Art & Collectors, Level 1 165 Gertrude street Fitzroy from 20 May to 20 June 2024.
