Paul Ogier The Prohibited Zone - Australian Atomic Landscapes • Exposure Magazine

The photographs in this selection are from a series of images exploring the Australian atomic test sites used during the first decade of mainland nuclear weapon testing, from 1953–1963.

They reconsider the contemporary post-atomic landscape, looking back on the former South Australian test sites established by the British Government at both Maralinga and Emu Field during the beginning of the Cold War.

The images draw on the hidden connections between these nuclear test sites and their military documentation, how these sites historically represent the Australian landscape through the largely unknown and secretive lens of British atomic bomb photography.

Each of the new photographs acknowledge a history of British photography within these sites and this is contrasted against my experience of being physically present some sixty years later. In broad terms, these more recent photographs establish a new visual representation for this Australian ‘atomic’ landscape. The images allow us look at these particular places from a different perspective, creating a new understanding of place, quietly revealing what the military and scientific community brought to bear on the surface of the earth—revealing the remaining problematic layers of invisible radiation in heavy, lead-like grey hues. The key argument in the work questions whether the declassified, site-specific British photographs can be seen to bring something new to an understanding of contemporary representations of place and country in Australia.