A Perpetual Brew

The puddle from the aircon is awash with frogs and snails, and the morning croaking chorus is almost deafening. The back verandah of our old Queenslander awaits its daily visitation from the two cheeky butcherbirds who have decided that our globe-trotting ginger tom obviously has more bark than bite, which makes the food and water bowl fair game. In fact, they sing their arrival with their little chests puffed wide, begging an audience. And I generally oblige.

There is nothing shy about the Australian wildlife. Amidst olive branches or gum leaves, they appear quite at home. The echo of Italian patinas through the Australian urban landscape affects them not at all. After all, who is to say that it doesn't just feel like another slice of normality?

A Perpetual Brew considers how people carry traditions and visual languages with them when they make a home in another country. Australian butcherbirds, native foliage and handmade pottery sit among antique Italian coffee cups, olives, vintage pewter and Italian architecture. Photographed separately and brought together through composition, these elements consider how traditions travel, adapt and gradually become part of a new place, helping to shape the culture that grows there.