Ali Pouliot: 20 years on, she's making art in Gariwerd again

Twenty years ago, Alison borrowed my Subaru Forester, driving the length and breadth of the Gariwerd, then walking with her tripod and camera  into the ranges to capture their magnificence.  
​It was on behalf  of my commission for  the large format photographic book Garwerd: Reflecting on the Grampians.

Now she's back in the new WAMA gallery, part of a 16ha art and nature precinct near Halls Gap. A world-recognised expert on fungi, with five published books on the subject, her wall-of-colour digital projections on four sides of the WAMA main gallery celebrate the endlessly bizarre forms of fungi  and their extraordinary beauty. Ali believes that taking an artistic approach in her photography of fungi aids in bringing them upfront and personal to  a wider public.

It's an aesthetic she was pursuing 20 years ago in her 100 glorious full page images throughout Gariwerd Reflecting. Copies of the book are for sale at WAMA, which is well worth a visit not only for the gallery, but also its endemic garden and scattered sculptures. 

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