The Book
The Book
Written in Stone is a journey.
I invite you to come with me as
I show you the secrets of a well-known coastline. I can point to the cracks and lines that tell the story of how Australia became an island.
On display are an impressive array of rock forms that ask us to look deeper and reflect on our connection to landscape. Through this deep looking, watching and taking note of the minute to the vast, the strange to the subtle we see how the rocks tell a story.
This is a book, which inspires
you to see nature and the self from a new vantage point.
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The story that we will follow is 135 million years old. It is the work of oceans, of deep subterranean pressures and of time, great deep time. Within which continents have formed and broken apart, dinosaurs have died out and mountains have been built where oceans had moments before stretched wide.
We will wander the length of the Great Ocean Road, from the fossil filled cliffs of Torquay, through the twisting and crackling bush of the Otways to the expanse of the Port Campbell plains. Each place that we stop, marked out in maps and photographed, holds a piece of the puzzle. As we go we will gather up these reflections and create a story of this landscape.
The second print run of Written in Stone has arrived!
Great Ocean Road
Great Ocean Road
The road that we will take stretches from
Torquay to Warrnambool along the coastline
of Victoria, Australia.
Reading the landscape
Reading the landscape
The land beneath is a vast puzzle...
The colours, lines, textures and patterns we find in rocks are all here as a result of time and process acting on and shaping the landscape.
Each unique moment is captured. This book is an invitation to
learn how to read these moments in landscape.
The book is split into three sections:
Torquay to Aireys Inlet
Lorne to Castle Cove
Moonlight Head to Warrnambool
Each section contains maps, diagrams, sketches and photographs
to help you see the story of the landscape. Together they chart
a 95 million year journey from Gondwana to Australia.
Photography
Photography
ALL PHOTOGRAPHY © PHILOMENA MANIFOLD
Bio
Bio
Philomena is a Writer/Illustrator and explorer of wild places. Her work focuses on the meeting point between Science and Art. She is deeply interested in how we connect to place. How we can become more intimate with the world and our own sense of belonging.
Her work spans the genres of Creative Nonfiction, Design and Embodiment Practices.
Graduating in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts and Science (Major in Geology) and a Diploma of Creative Writing from the University of Melbourne, she has since focused on exploring creative ways to communicate about the natural world.
Philomena spent nine years living between Melbourne and the Southwest Victorian Coast photographing, researching, writing and sketching the coastline. The goal: “Written in Stone: reading the rocks of the Great Ocean Road” a book that explores the geological stories of the region. This project was funded by a $20,000 Pozible campaign and has gone on to become a much celebrated publication. The Pozible page is still available for viewing - here. The second print run is currently selling in Melbourne and along the Great Ocean Road.
She currently has a garden design that is in construction at CERES Environmental Park. Through in depth community consultation she developed the CERES Meditation Garden that explores deep time and place.
She is a full time author, designer and educator. Spending time in her studio and traveling to talk on the topic of Geology and Creativity.
Philomena has studied Landscape Architecture, Geology and Creative Writing. These disciplines have resulted in a particular way of working with place, perspective, deep time and our connection to the wild.
My vision is to connect people to landscape.
This book is a homage to the land that meets the ocean.
A wild place to be treasured.
– PHILOMENA MANIFOLD
Outlets
Outlets
Sample Pages
Sample Pages
Prints
Prints
Limited edition prints are now available: 10'x10' on Canson Print Making Rag paper. Please contact me below for more information.
Locations: Apollo Bay, Cliff's east of Point Ronald, Boulder Beach, Devil's Kitchen and Soapy Rocks!