A Lost Place
Aletheia Casey
This project is a personal reflection on the wildfires in my home country of Australia, exploring their environmental impact while considering the historical context in which the land has been shaped and managed.
Through a series of landscape photographs and images of animal specimens, the work responds to the recent wildfires in New South Wales, the largest recorded in the country. Over a period of three months, these fires affected vast areas of land, causing widespread ecological damage and significant loss of wildlife. As wildfires become more frequent and intense in the context of rising global temperatures, the project reflects on how historical land practices and contemporary climate pressures intersect.
Using a range of visual techniques, I have altered the images to convey emotional depth. The transformed landscapes function as visual metaphors for both the physical impact of the fires and my own emotional response to the scale of loss. The marks and gestures within the images reference human attempts to shape and manage the natural world, highlighting the tension between control and forces beyond our reach. Through this process, I seek to balance an acknowledgment of devastation with moments of resilience and quiet beauty.
In some works, these landscapes are placed alongside images of preserved animal specimens from zoological museum archives in the UK. These include both native species and animals introduced to Australia that later disrupted local ecosystems. By bringing these images together, the project points to long-standing relationships between scientific study, land management, and environmental change, encouraging reflection on how past approaches to nature continue to influence present-day ecological challenges.
A Lost Place: Home
A Lost Place~: Wowly Creek
A Lost Place: Koala and landscape
A Lost Place: Wiradjuri country
A Lost Place: Pacific sea nettle Jellyfish
A Lost Place: Imagined landscape and head of a Long Nosed Bandicoot
A Lost Place: Wiradjuri country, Wagga Wagga
A Lost place: Crest tailed mulgara and landscape 
A Lost place: Wiradjuri country, Bathurst 
A Lost place: Bat and burnt landscape
Aletheia Casey is an Australian photographic artist. Her work explores environmental issues, post-colonial legacy, and personal themes of family and cultural identity. She has received numerous awards, including the 2024 World Press Award (Southeast Asia & Oceania), Dehinden Environmental Photography Award, Head On Landscape Award, and Australian Photography Awards in both Documentary and Environment categories. Her work has been published in The New Yorker, The Guardian, and The Sunday Times Magazine, and exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Australian Centre for Photography, and Museum of Australian Photography, among others.