For the Nautilus is my boat is an homage to the poem and illustration of the same name by Warwick Gobles, who famously illustrated "The Water Babies", 1863. The illustration depicts a young girl adrift, upon the high seas, aboard the seashell, Nautilus. 

Fossils, shells, and tortoises became regular heroes upon the pages of fiction around the same time as the release of Charles Darwins "Origin of Species", emphasizing our connection to nature, our desire to understand life cycles and all of Mother Natures gorious mysteries. During this period, young women were storing sea shells in their hope boxes or (trousseau) in the hope that the shells would bring them children.

Shells have long been associated with fertility and as exoskeletons their functional role is to support, protect and feed the creature that lives within, as is the role of a mother. This series explores the human desire to better understand ourselves through the wisdom of nature, in all of her and our complexities.

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This photographic series was exhibited at

 

Jarvis Dooney Galerie, Berlin, Germany

Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

Perth Centre of Photography, Perth Australia