Meet Tricia King
Tricia King is a Sunshine Coast based documentary photographer who is capturing the incredible site-specific imagery accompanying the 'Listening in the Wild' soundscapes.
Who are you and what do you create?
I am a photographer and researcher working in documentary and collaborative photography predominantly, but I do enjoy creating images across a range of subjects. I am deeply nerdy level passionate about photography and have been creating photographs since I was very young. In high school I discovered the schools secret darkroom under the stairs (it probably wasn’t secret but I like to think it was) and fell deeply in love with watching images emerge in the developing tray too and have spent a great amount of time over the years tucked away in darkrooms listening to music up very loud and printing a very prolific amount of prints.
My current practice typically sees me working a great deal with people and being very fast paced so this new body of work which I produced as part of Horizon Festival for the Listening In the Wild project has really taken me back to a slow form of image making. Working with people one tends to work in haste but photographing nature in the locations for this project has allowed me to slow down and respond to the environment rather than react to it.
What materials and techniques do you use?
I work with digital processes these days, predominantly because of speed and convenience. Working in a darkroom I would spend hours upon hours printing and with a young family I don’t have those hours these days. I do enjoy digital and its immediacy when I work with people as I’m able to show collaborators my vision very quickly and we can then work together on refinements or ways to intersect with each other’s work further.
In my analogue days I photographed mostly using half-frame cameras which would expose half a regular film frame at a time which meant you could create amazing juxtapositions and I’d print three frames at a time and make triptychs. I still have quite a large collection of old toy cameras (my prized camera is one shaped like a cow) which I hope to dust off one day when time permits.
What kind of inspirations go into your work?
I am a bit shy and generally prefer other people to do the talking so I am a pretty good observer – which absolutely influences my photography. I talk a lot with older people in aged care working with them to look at their photographs and hearing their stories - to me, giving people a space to reflect upon their lives is really important. It allows us to form connections and interweave our stories together and when people talk about experiences or moments or events they often they can forge collective experiences around them. At the same time, I am profoundly influenced and inspired by the environment and being tasked to represent the environment through creating images is also hugely important to me. I appreciate my role as a narrator through my images and being a collector of stories.
In what space do you like to create most?
I am a new resident of the Sunshine Coast, having spent a few years here as a very young child but now returning earlier this year with my own family to take up a role at the University of the Sunshine Coast to teach and research photography. The Sunshine Coast is proving to be a greater source of creativity than I had ever expected, both with my own practice but the amazing hub of creativity which has been fostered here. Already I have met so many people I am enjoying the work of, enjoying discussing ideas with and perhaps one day I will be able to collaborate alongside. I think I’ve been the most creatively “happy” since moving here and definitely the most productive in my work.
What has been your favourite or most important work to date?
I am very fortunately that I’ve been invited to some amazing places to document events, create work or talk about ideas but I was genuinely, truly humbled to sit on the banks of the Maroochy River with Lyndon Davis playing didgeridoo into the water recently for this project. It was an experience I won’t forget for a long time! The other project I reflect upon fondly was creating and (self) publishing a book with my then three year old daughter Cody. We gave it to libraries and kindergartens and did a few school talks about how everyone is an artist. Collaborating with a three year old was fun and I would recommend it to everyone!
Join Tricia for Listening in the Wild, a project comprised of three separate experiences, streamed live online and also available post event for audiences to access anywhere at any time. The locations include virtual sound walks through Eudlo Creek National Park, a journey along the Maroochy River and an ocean expedition from Mooloolaba Beach. Find out more here.
