Lost in the Bush
an excursion beyond the cliché
"The series Lost in the Bush emerged playfully from the original collection titled Cliche Life. The series was shot on location in Mullumbimby and reconnected me to my love of macro photography.
A Google search revealed all words containing ‘bush’ in scrabble words, this is the list that permits the play on words from everyday language with a contextual shift and establishes the environment for this body of work to exist.
The landscape inspired series allows the viewer to experience this contextual shift of the subject in a new heightened reality and expanded state of the original world."
REF: from the original artist statement for solo exhibition by Raymond Mather, Coffs Harbour 2018.
Invitation card and installing the Lost in the Bush exhibition in Coffs Harbour
Originally developed from an earlier conceptual direction titled Cliche Life, the photographic series Lost in the Bush emerged through a playful yet layered exploration of Australian language, identity, and visual mythology. Photographed on location in Mullumbimby in northern New South Wales, the series reconnected Raymond Mather with his long-standing love of staged photography, constructed environments, theatrical narrative, and macro detail.
The original catalyst for the project arrived through language itself. Fascinated by the multiplicity of meaning hidden within everyday Australian expressions, Raymond began researching words containing “bush”, eventually discovering an extensive list through a simple online Scrabble word search. What began as curiosity quickly evolved into a conceptual framework. Familiar Australian slang and cultural phrases became disconnected from their ordinary use and reimagined visually through selected props, and staged photography.
The resulting works blurred the boundaries between photography, theatre, satire, and visual fiction. Each image became less about literal interpretation and more about contextual shift, allowing ordinary words and cultural references to exist inside an exaggerated parallel reality. Humour, absurdity, and theatricality became central to the visual language of the series.
Lost in the Bush exhibition installed and ready for opening night
Developed while living in Coffs Harbour, the project required several months of preparation and experimentation. Props were sourced and assembled, model and location sourced, and visual scenarios gradually refined before the final photographs were created on the verandah of a hinterland property near Mullumbimby. The surrounding landscape, framed by trees and distant glimpses toward Byron Bay, became an integral backdrop to the constructed world unfolding within the images.
At the time, Raymond had been extensively photographing flowers and natural forms through highly detailed macro imagery, while simultaneously exploring the language of everyday expression and social behaviour. Lost in the Bush unexpectedly became the point where these interests converged. The precision of photographic observation met theatrical construction, while humour became a pathway into broader reflections on identity, performance, and cultural storytelling.
Although playful on the surface, the series also explored how Australian identity is often performed through language and stereotype. Clothing, gesture, props, and environment became intertwined within deliberately exaggerated scenes that sat somewhere between affection and parody. The work invited audiences to recognise the familiarity of these cultural cues while simultaneously seeing them from a new and heightened perspective.
Originally exhibited as a solo exhibition in Coffs Harbour in 2018 at Old Johns Café along the Jetty Strip, the exhibition quickly became known for the joy and laughter it generated among visitors. The café itself, filled with a younger creative and inclusive community, provided the perfect environment for the work to exist socially as well as visually. Conversations, humour, and audience interaction became part of the exhibition experience itself.
The Lost in the Bush Exhibition installed and ready for coffee and a chat
Many viewers responded immediately to the absurdity and theatricality embedded within the images. Others recognised deeper layers relating to Australian vernacular culture, performance, and the strange familiarity of cliché itself. The works sold well during the exhibition and remain one of the clearest examples of Raymond’s ongoing interest in blending photography with choreography, constructed narrative, and human behaviour.
Looking back now, Lost in the Bush represents an important bridge within the broader ART1 archive. It sits between documentary observation and conceptual image-making, revealing the continuing influence of Raymond’s earlier theatre and choreography practice within his photographic work. More than a photographic series, the project became a playful excavation of language, identity, and the curious ways meaning shifts through context, performance, and perception.
The following images are for the original exhibition catalogue.
Lost in the Bush original catalogue pages
Lost in the Bush artworks: Sugarbush and Ambushed artworks
Lost in the Bush artworks: Aussie Bush and Bush Babies
Lost in the Bush artworks: Buttonbush and Bush Flower
Lost in the Bush artworks: GW Bush and Herb Bush
Lost in the Bush artworks: Lost in the Bush and Nutbush
Lost in the Bush artworks: Beat Around The Bush and Ambushed 
Lost in the Bush artworks: Bush Flower and Bush Medicine
Lost in the Bush artworks: Bush Regeneration and Bush Camp
Lost in the Bush artworks: Bush T and Saltbush
Lost in the Bush artworks: May Bush and Spice Bush
Lost in the Bush artworks: Snowbish and Ambushed
Lost in the Bush artworks: Bush Tucker and Bush Wedding
Lost in the Bush artworks: Christmas Bush and Rosebush
A curated selection from the original Lost in the Bush exhibition is now preserved within the evolving ART1 Archive as part of Raymond Mather’s ongoing exploration of Australian visual culture, staged photography, and conceptual narrative practice.