To open the Arts-Matter Winter Digital Series, Faraway Gums by Sydney artist Billy Ryan invites us to pause, reflect and reconnect with the natural world. Through vivid full-spectrum photography, Ryan captures the spirit of the Angophora Costata, known widely as the Sydney Red Gum or Kajimbourra, with glowing pinks, rich reds and intricate detail that reveals the silent strength of this native icon.
Rooted in both ecological insight and childhood wonder, Faraway Gums draws on Ryan’s own memories of tree-climbing and the imaginative world of Enid Blyton’s The Enchanted Wood. The result is a visual meditation on resilience that feels dreamlike, majestic and grounded in place.
The Sydney Red Gum is a tree shaped by time and survival. Lightning strikes, insect invasions and fire leave visible scars, yet its regenerative powers are profound. Each twisted limb and hollowed-out trunk holds a story. Through a full-spectrum camera that captures light beyond the human eye, Ryan reveals these stories in colours and textures that feel both real and surreal.
About the Artist: Billy Ryan
Billy Ryan is a Sydney-based video and photographic artist and co-founder of creative studio Babekühl. His work explores the unseen — ethereal, emotional dimensions of the natural world often filtered through memory, daydream and speculative fiction. Using advanced optical technology like full-spectrum infrared cameras, Ryan uncovers a heightened, otherworldly view of nature that resonates with both science and story.
Whether exploring the secret logic of trees or translating childhood nostalgia into art, Ryan’s practice is a vivid interplay between nature and imagination. In Faraway Gums, he offers us a renewed way of seeing that is tender, surreal and full of awe.