In and Out - by Martin Leitch

Boundaries exist to stop us from colliding with each other. Boundaries exist to separate us. boundaries exist to keep us out, or in.

In this current Coivd 19 environment, some boundaries create division that do us harm and some have been created to keep us safe. To live in harmony and maintain our health, we all need to live by the rules.

Mask - by Mario Mirabile

Boundaries are for creating separation. They offer a buffer of protection that we can hide behind. They can be as hard and solid as steel, or as insubstantial as a puff of smoke.

Time - by Sue McLeod

Despite all our technology, time remains an insurmountable barrier. History both obscures and enlightens events and, just as our subject looks forward into the future, we look back to the past, as both our cultures experience the decimation of 'plague'.

Though time separates us, little changes; humanity faces similar challenges in every age, but we seem destined never to learn the lessons.

In our world, nature screams for respite, global warming thrives, pandemics decimate populations, war threatens; but Capitaism and human arrogance cannot hear. Often the balance of nature is righted thrugh human disasters.

Can our shared experiences help us see the writing on the wall before it is too late?

Boundaries of the Sea - by Tony Harding

People create hard boundaries with the use of barriers to manage interaction with the sea.

Nature also abounds with oastal barriers. These can be seen in the form of the ocean, the shoreline and land which naturally coalesce through malleable boundaries.

Public and Private - by Brian Rope

There are boundaries between things we reveal publicly and those we keep private. It is not always clear how much of ourselves, our lives, our possessions, or even our thoughts we wish to have remain private. We can put a sign or our door or say that we do not wish to share something, thus proclaiming that what lies beyond the door or within our minds is private, but if others can find a window to see what's inside the at least some of our privacy is lost. Things become public.

Invisible Masks - by Anne O'Connor

Covid-19 is a term that describes a world gone mad. A world that now hides behind doors, behind rulers dictating rules, within a premise of staying safe. No more congregating as a people in these times of unrest. The threat is there, unseen, hiding in meeting places that are now deemed unsafe.

This work is about changes imposed upon us. Our normality has altered and we wait for a future to emerge that is unknown. In doing so, we hide behind invisible masks that stop us from revealing the reality of our present and the hidden truth that still waits to emerge.

Urban and Rural Boundaries - by Tony Harding

Boundaries abound in both urban and rural settings.

Urban physical boundaries may manifest in a multitude of barriers to secure or protect assets. This may even extend to construction of a high wall to reinforce the exclusion of others.

Rural boundaries operationalised through physical barriers may be no less rigid. However, given the greater space in this setting, they are environmentally determined, tending to be livestock-management focussed. They also may be less elaborate and exclusionary.

Defy Entropy - by Geoff Shaw

In the sense that entropy is the inevitable thermodynamic trend to inert uniformity, it is boundaries that define us, that define life. In this image the boundary is a place of mutual complementarity between blue and yellow. And more subtle boundaries - the sharp edges and shadow that define the texture of the wall provide unification across the colours. Boundaries unite as well as divide.

Breaching Boundaries - by Brian Rope

On all sides of this building site there is a mesh fence covered with smaller mesh screen which, every so often, has openings in it. If we look through the opening, we can clearly see not only the area inside the fence but some of what is beyong the opposite side of the fence. The mesh fence, mesh screen and site shape are all characterised by, or with, regular shapes and lines. They are geometric. It doesn't matter how many boundaries are put in place if gaps allow breaches.

No Entry - by Anne O'Connor

Travelling around the city is a pastime I enjoy. I am free to wander the streets around me. However, there are restrictions designated by signs, which inform me of boundaries that I should obey. 

This work is a collage of images portraying such boundaries.  One could ignore them, or go along with them, they are not enforced physically. Yet, I am reminded of the term, 'nature- culture' regarding imposed rules that enforce compliancy through cultural trends.  Responding is a learnt behaviour; there is no consideration of imposed boundaries & I obey without question, what is implied.

Shunned - by Geoff Shaw

A social boundary splits the image. A man begging on the street. The more fortunate passing by, studiously looking anywhere but at the beggar. In the background, at head height of the passers-by are the signs of a bar, a bank and a boutique shop; at the beggar's head height is a row of rubbish bins, reflecting the relative worth our society places on thses individuals. Social boundaries isolate individuals, driving a focus on our selfish goals, rather than uniting people to work together for the greater good of all in our society.

Between Life and Death - by Ian Terry

This image is an end of life portrait of my mother in her hospice a few days before she died. her room, in semi-darkness, the sun-filled garden beyond the boundary of the glass sliding doors. The printed sign on the door reminds us that this is still the time of corona and that visitor numbers are restricted - it indicates the boundary between sickness and health. The crocheted rug on the bed and the light catching her pink dressing gown, now no longer worn, grip my heart as she prepares to cross the boundary separating life and death.

Enclosed - by Judi Neumann

We work from home, we isolate, we quarantine - why? A virus has gone viral and turned our world upside down. Four walls have become our existence - there are buildings bound by each other, then there are units and offices within the buildings all bound by walls, into the units and offices we go only to be bound by four walls in one room. The sky is there unseen by those bound inside.

Just when we think it is safe to step out again, the virus decides it is not time to play and the boundaries are put in place again, bound by country, bound by borders within a country, bound by cities, bound in buildings, bound in four walls.

Isolation - by Ian Terry

An immutable boundary holds me in quarantine from the world without. I am alone in strict isolation, unable to see or speak to any person face to face, a participant of society's cocoon of safety from a virulent pandemic. At night a yellow light frames the door, shines through the peephole, reminding me that a world, which I am forbidden to enter, exists beyond its threshold. A world of physical engagement, of possibility, both positive and negative. After fourteen days I will open that door, cross the boundary and re-start my life.

Today Tomorrow - by Martin Leitch

Barbed wire presents us with a warning not to cross it without the risk of injury. For me it represents the boundary between the present and the future. Being present in the 'now', I am surrounded with a clarity that details every strand of my existence. But, in total contrast the future is blurred, indistinct and uncertain. The barbed wire is a boundary that I can only look across with a great deal of care and a certain amount of trepidation. I can never cross it because it will always the boundary between today and tomorrow.

Out of Bounds - by Kay Mack

I live in the safe environment of an Aged Care home. High fences with locked gates surround the property, keeping intruders out and potentially unsafe wanderers in. In healthier times visitors are welcomed and outings ecouraged with access through the supervised front door. Despite certain necessary restrictions due to COVID19, there is plenty to enjoy in our beautiful surroundings. And a tour around the path inside the perimeter fence gives me glimpses of our suburban environment: roadways, car parks, the vegetation along a dry creek bed, and our nearest neighbours.

Cold Covid Picnic. Alone. - by Lyndall Gerlach

With the pandemic of 2019-2020 people had to impose boundaries on themselves. In June, we began to open up some mormal activities, but in the winter of Canberra it takes a brave heart to breech the cold of the days. 

This man has a strong impulse to get back into the free environment. For him, he faces the boundary of physical distancing boundaries as he lunches alone, in the cold, beside Lake Burley Griffin.

Separated by Colour - by Judi Neumann

The colour of our skin confines us to being different and binds us to different histories, cultures and bias. Over long periods of time boundaries have been placed on races of colour, causing inexcusable hardships and emotional trauma. The media and politics are no help as these are controlled by those who implement the boundaries.

The voice of a few, Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Height, Nelson Mandela, raise up to change the barriers and bring equality to all. The struggles go on in the recent conflicts in America. Progress is slow. Boundaries and barriers as slowly falling but the big divide is far from over. We can see gradual integration in our society but largely we are still bound by our skin colour - black and white.

Personal Boundaries - by Kay Mack

At an early age we begin to develop body self-awareness, a necessary skill in negotiating our way in a physical environment. We grow so gradually that accommodating our larger selves to the world is an automatic process although accident or illness may disrupt this. If at some stage we become confined to a wheelchair the chair becomes the boundary of our personal space but it is not a barrier between ourselves and the world. Barriers are created by external factors such as stairs, rough surfaces, doorways, table heights and, too often, the attitudes of others.

Don't Always Work - by Lynton Targett

This image reminds me about the saying "The grass is always greener on the other side". Even when boundaries are put in place some things just ignore them. In this case the boundary wasn't built high enough for the purpose. I captured this image at Zoodoo in Tasmania. I found it comical that the camel just didn't put their neck over to feed on the grass on the other side but managed to put legs over as well. I see a comedy in things that nature do and how we really do not know how nature thinks.

Love has no boundaries - by Lyndall Gerlach

2019-2020 brought the world to its knees. The world began isolating, creating boundaries, by country, state, county, suburbs, even families, and we were advised to close our doors. Boundaries meant life and death for susceptible people.

Older couples locked down, days and days passed, sunny days, stormy days, two months of days. And death was always outside that door, it was the enemy of their existence.

So much love, forever more, despite this world.

Love has no boundaries.

Triangulation - by Mario Mirabile

At times we all find ways to create boundaries around ourselves. Even when we tread the same paths as others, we manage to create our own little corners of isolation.

An infinite universe is a universe that expands infinitely and eternally - by Roger Skinner

Of a Convict Era - by Lynton Targett

This image gives a sense the restraints of a convict building except it is a school house in Campania Tasmania. Even the shools had boundaries the windows in this picture don't open they are fixed. The presences of being there you admire the construction but also appreciate the pain and hardship that it took to build. Solid 12 inch Sandstone that has lasted the weather of time. I see a forgotten past that I as a Tasmanian-born need to re-discover.

Walk the Line - by Peter Wydmuch

The inspiration for this abstract came from Johhny Cash songs "I Walk the Line" and "Burning Ring of Fire".

"Walking the line" is a boundary defining colloquialism about the line between what is morally right and wrong as judged by society.

Three images on either side of a path is indicative where the socially acceptable live, and a fourth image depicts the abyss of unsociable behaviour.

One always chooses the line it doesn't matter where one is born, what one does or where one lives. We are defined by the path we choose. Some can choose some can't.

Francene - by Sue McLeod

Consequences arise when we cross barriers; Francene is a male to female transgender person. Her male body alien she feared dying as a man, unbalanced, unfulfilled.

However, she is still paying the price for daring to cross some peoples moral boundaries. Despite this, she is now cntent because her body and mind are at peace.

However, moral prejudices creates other boundaries which seek to stigmatise her, even though Harvard (and other) Universities proved that gender is not binary.

The question posed by this work is; Do we continue to maintain the boundaries for transgender people and treat them as pariahs, or do we welcome them as fellow human beings? Do we have the right to create more heartache for people like Francene - do we have the right to judge?

Fear, ignorance and prejudice create boundaries. Knowledge, understanding and empathy unite us.

Bounded universe - by Roger Skinner

Grounded - by Heather Prince

I see the playground as a metaphor for escape into imagination. Up, up and away! How high can you go? In the minds of children, they are flying like birds or angels or jet planes or sliding down into an ocean and off to a mystery place somewhere. They feel the rush of air on their faces and the exhilaration of rising and falling through space. They learn to climb higher and higher and higher.... Now there is a barrier there, a physical barrier. No more magical, mystery tours for the children. They are grounded. No escape from reality.

Looking Up - by Glynis Pogson

This upwards perspective of branches reaching towards the expanse of a dusk sky was taken last September - well before the current restrictions to life under the Coronavirus threat. To metaphorically look up is now relevant to the worldwide hope for an end to this persistent and devastating illness.

On the Ground - by Elizabeth Slezak

Boundaries are generally restrictions and limits, which can be physical, emotional or personal. They exist to stop us from doing something we would like to do, and modify our behaviour.

This image attempts to interpret the notion of boundaries. It captures a Disabled Parking sign, the symbol of access, securing this parking spot for a disabled driver while restricting other drivers parking their vehicles there. Literally, a boundary is created in order to protect the disabled drivers.

Suffer Little Children - by Heather Prince

When I lean back

and swing so high

my tiptoes tickle

the belly of the sky.

(Amy Ludwig VanDerwater)

The yellow and black tape is a physical barrier prohibiting entry to the world of play where children explore their differences and similarities and learn how to participate in the world. For children play is the beginning of knowledge.