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This years theme for Flying Arts Queensland Regional Art Award Essential Character of Queensland my entry is inspired by childhood memories, from our annual road trips to Sarina, North Queensland.

I was a keen budding photographer as a child and each holiday I would pack my camera for the journey and document each road trip capturing those special moments. One vivid memory that etched in my mind was the acres of cane fields that stretched far and wide.  Being a city slicker and growing up in a concrete jungle, I was in awe of the vast landscape.  

The image below of four photographs were taken on one of our road trips documenting the cane harvesting season. The top left image; cane fields before the burn, top right; harvesting after the burn (of course these were the days of burning the cane prior to harvesting), bottom left; transporting the cane, bottom right; massive Fig tree landmarked as the largest tree in Queensland.  These photographs were taken in 1975, I wonder if the Fig tree still remains standing!

Below; exploring my options...clear cube made in plexiglass, enlarged transparent images etc., I had contemplated filling the cube with cane mulch, and beaming a red laser light to represent the burn.  After much contemplation I decided to suspend a sugar cube in its centre.

...and the final piece captured below, the transparent images worked really well and tell of a story, one family road trip some 37 years ago!

Title: Road Trip

My artist statement:

"In the eyes of a child you will see the world as it should be," - author unknown.

This cube encapsulates the essential character of Queensland as seen through the eyes of the artist as a child on a holiday trip to Sarina, North Queensland in 1975. It depicts the field, the harvesting and transporting of the cane and the towering Fig tree. Hovering in the heart of this cube is a piece of sugar, the defining moment of being a Queenslander in a simpler age where "one of the biggest trees in Queensland" was something to be marvelled at.

If you would like to view all the other entries please click > here,  People's Choice online voting continues until 17th September, 2012 - anyone can vote, so please feel free to do so.