Songlines

fine art photographic print

2025

'Lines of life move through this landscape, flowing across an ancient surface in quiet continuity. They gather, branch, and return, carrying presence through a living system — one that sustains, connects, and renews.

In Indigenous Australian cultures, songlines describe an intimate relationship with place — pathways of knowledge, story, life energy  and responsibility carried through landscape rather than imposed upon it. This work does not seek to define those traditions, but to reflect upon their presence: the sense that land remembers, guides, teaches, nurtures and sustains us through its long evolved patterns and rhythm and our conscious, respectful relationship with it.

The absence of context, scale and orientation asks the viewer not to locate themselves within the image, but to sit with it, listen and be more present to its symbolic implications.

The image was created on the Muntrikawripa - Takayana Project with Palawa Elders Theresa Sainty and Nala Mansell intended to showcase the rich, living cultural relationship with the magnificent Takayna Wilderness in northwest Tasmania.

This work is offered with deep respect for Palawa culture, knowledge, and ongoing custodianship of Country.'

Paul Hoelen

BSc, Dip Sci, Dip Grad, GMZIPP, APP M.Photog II

Paul is a Hobart-based professional photographer specialising in portrait, travel, andcommercial work but is most known for his landscape imagery, particularly from an aerial perspective. With decades of experience behind the lens, he has been recognized as a Grand Master of Photography with the NZIPP and has earned thetitle of Tasmanian Professional Landscape Photographer of the Year seven times.
Beyond his own practice, Paul is a sought-after judge at a state, national, and
international level, leads workshops worldwide and contributes regularly to numerous publications.

Deeply committed to using his craft for a greater purpose, Paul has dedicated his time and photography to many cultural, humanitarian, and environmental causes. As an experienced outdoor expedition leader and wilderness therapist, he has spent over 20 years exploring and guiding others through the Takayna region—an extraordinary landscape he continues to document and advocate for. 

He remains dedicated to contributing to the preservation of its globally significant wilderness and cultural heritage values for the generations to come.