Dianna Wells, Untitled (Epping) 2012

Edmund Pearce gallery has an exhibition by Dianna Wells of photographs that explore the urban fringe. There is a zone at the perimeter of every city where the suburbs lose their solidity and shade off into the rural. In a constantly growing metropolis that region is always moving further out, like a cancer. But for a time, it’s something you can pinpoint, and that’s what Wells does.

When driving out of Melbourne I’m always looking for ‘the edge’, the moment of transition from urban to country. On Edge documents the tension point between the old pastoral and the new urban, the change to the environment and the telling detail on the ground.

The terrific photograph above, an exemplary composition of geometric forms, shows the confrontation between ‘tar and cement’ and the mystical, eternal Australian bush. It’s an encounter between two time dimensions.

Dianna Wells is a graphic designer completing a Masters degree at Monash University. Her website is diannawellsdesign.com

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