GUMMSUCKER - signed

Hardcover, linen with tip-on
128 pages
11 × 14 inches
Edition of 1000
Published by Charcoal Press

Gumsucker laments the loss of untamed Australian wilderness to civilization, ever encroaching and domesticating the land and spirit. It is a ghost story of sorts, populated by withering vestiges and isolated souls. Its title, drawn from the archaic term once used to describe native-born European Australians, also recalls The Gumsucker’s Dirge, a 19th-century poem mourning the erasure of wilderness as the frontier was pushed further out and the dream of an untouched wilderness became increasingly inaccessible.

Rory King’s images depict a landscape of abandonment, yet speak of a yearning for deep connection in the face of isolation. These are lonely photographs, but with warmth and connection at their edges. There is resistance here, a sense of fight and resilience against the disillusionment of modernity. Through his patient gaze, King’s lens captures strangers, companions, and brute nature alike in a tender embrace.

Rory King is a Canberra-based photographer who was awarded the Charcoal Publishing Prize at the 2023 Chico Review. He was the recipient of The Pool Grant #12 in 2023 from The Pool Collective. He was a finalist in the 2022 Australian Photography Awards, Portrait category, and received the National Gallery of Australia Summer Art Scholarship for photography in 2011. He was named one of the up-and-coming artists of 2018 by Vogue Australia. He published his debut monograph, Plumwood (2022), with Tall Poppy Press.