Solastalgia

This year we photographed a dead female Wallaby at the top of Wallaby Close. She must have hopped into the path of a car last night. Road kill is a huge issue in our part of the world. Here is a wounded ‘place’, or perhaps a ‘dead place’ that once exemplified all that was beautiful and vital about life. We picked a rose from our garden and placed it on her body. Our roses are a favourite treat for the wild wallabies of Wallaby Farm. They prune them all to wallaby height in their quest for tender rose leaves, especially during droughts. We have many sites that are wounded by the Anthropocene as it devours loved places. Yet another aspect of life that is part of the ‘carnage’ of the Anthropocene is road-wounding and road-kill. The rose on her body is to let the world know that we did not ignore this wallaby death. May all go that bit slower in life to let others simply live.