Written by Belinda Broughton.

This photo by Ervin Janek was taken near Swan Reach in a puddle in a billabong of the Murray. A billabong is an off shoot of a river that flows when the river is high. I suspect this one has water only from run off because, when this photo was taken, the Murray hadn't flooded for a long time.

I am the model and the mud was very stinky, each slimy step forward raising a cloud of rot. The things we do for art and love.

It speaks about the degradation of our waterways, how important water is to all life, and human knowledge, awareness and guilt.

There is something primal about it, don't you think? It makes me feel awkward, maybe even afraid. How do you feel about it?

by Belinda

Today Ervin took some photos of my shadow for a woodblock he is working on. First we went to pick up Erma from the Woollen Mills Museum exhibition where she had been doing a spot of modelling. I have an interesting relationship with Erma. I'll do a blog post on her sometime. I took this pic because of the way he's holding her!

Back in the studio he used Erma to help him set up for the shoot. She is much more patient than me.

Here he is telling me the angles and the pose. The light source is his digital projector, hence the blue light, and there are lots of other light sources and secondary shadows, but he is only interested in the shape.

I'll post some more as this print proceeds. But in the meantime, here is Erma looking elegant. He took this photo. I wonder what he'll do with it.