Statement
Northam Swimming Pool, Northam, Western Australia, 2022
Leigh Dicks is an Australian/American photographer who shares his time between Australia and the United States.
His photographic endeavors have led him to explore the world's natural and urban landscapes with the resulting imagery spanning Australia, America and Europe. Brett primarily investigates the landscape and the fragile ties that it shares with human history, shining a light on humanity's socio-political indiscretions.
Brett takes an archaeological approach to photography. In so doing he has examined themes and subject matter ranging from concentration and internment camps, decommissioned prisons, and abandoned nuclear missile sites, before more recently exploring nuclear energy’s footprint upon the landscape. Framed within the ethos and aesthetic of the New Topographic movement he seeks to present his subject matter in its topographical state, with the view of providing a direct conduit between subject’s inherent character and emotion and the viewer.
Brett's work has been featured in over 50 solo exhibitions in Australia, Europe, and North America along with numerous group exhibitions including the Figge Art Museum’s recent survey of photography in the American West, “The Magnetic West.” It has been published in journals, newspapers, and periodicals, ranging from The New York Times to VICE as well as being featured on national radio in Australia, Canada, and the United States.