Peter Solness - Tree Stories revisited

Peter Solness, The Leunig Tree (Olea Africana)

Northeast Victoria, archival inkjet print

Peter Solness

Tree Stories — revisited

10 October - 31 October 2026

Exhibition overview and catalogue to be posted soon

Artist Statement

The original Tree Stories book, which was published in 1999, was never a conventional publication about trees. It was not a catalogue of tree species, nor a beginner’s guide to planting or propagating trees.

Instead, the book roamed Australia in search of stories and images of trees that were themed by human interactions, imaginings, thoughts and memories.

Such stories are constantly evolving. That’s what makes them interesting and that’s what made it imperative for me as an artist, after more than a quarter of a century, to revisit them with my camera. I wanted to see how the passage of time had reshaped the trees and what new images might come from that.

An olive tree is planted and becomes part of a family’s valuable heritage. A poisoned tree is reborn. A Bodhi tree is hand-watered for 30 years. The site of a sacred Banyan tree is returned to its people.

Each image in this exhibition is the result of new journeys around the country with my camera, as well as a revisiting of the original Tree Stories archives.

About the Artist

Peter Solness is a multi-award-winning photographer, artist, educator and writer who began his 50-year photography career contributing surfing photos to Surfing World and Tracks magazine in the 1970s.

In the early 1980s Solness took to the Australian outback on a Honda CX500 motorcycle in a personal journey of self-discovery that lasted two years. The resulting output launched his career as a photojournalist for The Sydney Morning Herald and the National Times from 1982 to 1988.

For the next 20 years Solness worked on multiple assignments for national and international magazines including TIME Australia, Good Weekend, The Bulletin and Australian Geographic. He also has a string of large-format coffee table books to his name, on subjects as diverse as the Chinese army, the Trans-Siberian Railway, Sydney Harbour and the Australian seasons.

Over a four year period in the 1990s Solness pursued his passion for Australian trees gathering stories and images for his critically acclaimed book, Tree Stories, published by Chapter & Verse and Australian Geographic in 1999.

With the advent of digital photography in the mid 2000s, Solness became a pioneer of the photographic technique of light painting, which involves mounting a camera on a tripod and working in darkness during long camera exposures of between 4 to 60 seconds.

An enthusiastic teacher and exponent of light painting as an art form, Solness runs regular workshops and presentations at Arts Schools, TAFE colleges, and the Head On and Ballarat International Foto Biennale Festivals. He also mounts large-scale public light events for community celebrations such as Science Week and Sydney WorldPride 2023.

Solness continues to develop specialist light painting workshops for secondary and primary schools to inspire younger audiences with the magic of light painting.

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ARTWORK