Abstract
Enter a world that celebrates Australia’s flora and fauna, cleverly gathered together – appreciate the glorious wafting scents from the Eucalypts meeting the excited screech of birdlife about to feast on an abundance of nectar from our native wildlife. These are the unbidden sensory memories of bushwalks, with the humming and thrumming of insects in the undergrowth, the gentle ‘plonk’ of frogs near the water’s edge integral as background to the experience.
But Once Was, the collage artwork featured on the cover of this issue of the Alternative Law Journal, is ‘a visual archive of species teetering on the edge of extinction’ rather than a celebration of our Australian wildlife.
Artist Pamela Pauline, an American-born Australian, prepared this multi-layered photographic landscape, as she explains it, to ‘bear witness to Australia’s vanishing biodiversity’.
The work, each photograph of which was taken by Pamela under the guidance of wildlife and horticultural specialists, features 16 threatened bird species, over 30 threatened flora and seven threatened marsupials.
Australia’s biodiversity – the plants, animals, micro-organisms and ecosystems that make up our living environment – is in decline. Loss of habitat and climate change are just some of the causes leaving over 1700 species and ecological communities currently under threat and at risk of extinction.
So, while accepting that each image is a testament to what still exists, the question that looms large remains – and that is, for how long?
Explains Pamela, the work ‘echoes both the beauty and fragility of our natural world. Each element … is portrayed alive and thriving, honouring the vitality of what remains’.
‘The inclusion of iconic species, once considered abundant, speaks to the urgency of their plight and the need to celebrate, protect, and reconnect with the living world around us.’
‘Australia has the highest rate of extinction in the developed world. Once Was invites reflection on what we stand to lose and asks us to act before these species exist only in memory.’
Pamela’s works have been exhibited in numerous countries, and her pieces are held widely in both public and private collections. Once Was, our cover art, was a finalist in the 2025 Hadley’s Art Prize. Among other honours, Pamela has twice received the Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Still Life.
Pamela Pauline
Once Was (2025)
Photographic collage on etching rag
95 x 125cm
Cover image courtesy of the artist
© Pamela Pauline
