Ralph Kerle's Journey on Water

Water is the commonest symbol for the unconscious. The lake in the valley is the unconscious, which lies, as it were, underneath consciousness, so that it is often referred to as the ‘subconscious,’ usually with the pejorative connotation of an inferior consciousness. Water is the ‘valley spirit,’ the water dragon of Tao, whose nature resembles water- a yang in the yin, therefore, water means spirit that has become unconscious.” (Carl Jung, Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious, paragraph 40)

Water Sarcophagus, Kangaroo Valley, Australia 2014. Image by Ralph Kerle

Artist Ralph Kerle may well have been reflecting on the words of Swiss psychotherapist Carl Gustave Jung (1875 – 1961) when he began his exploration of water. Yet it was no theoretical prompting that compelled this Melbourne-born artist to set out on his arduous kayak adventures across the waterways of Sydney. Rather it was the dark edge of the psyche, clinical depression the likes of which resisted all modern pharmaceutical remediation, which compelled Ralph Kerle to take himself to the sea.

For those of us who have grown up in Australia there is a casual appreciation for the spiritual significance of water. We swim in it, surf on it, dive beneath its surface. But we are weary of water, especially the ocean with its sharks, box jellyfish, stingrays, sea snakes, crocodiles and pernicious undertows. Yet for all of these forces and cohabitants we see water as that great purifier of the spirit. To be in it is to be rendered physical, strained and immersed. Water renews us.

The terrain that Kerle’s photographs depict is a region of Sydney’s waterways known as Middle Harbour. Though separated from the larger Sydney Harbour the anchorage shares many of its features. Think of Sydney Harbour and one tends to picture the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Opera House, or the vast blue expanse celebrated by the painter Brett Whiteley (1932 – 1992). But as Kerle’s photographs attest, there is more to a place than the aerial view alone. Up close and personal one encounters something approximating an intimate relationship with nature. That one might find this experience in a major metropolis is perhaps a testament to the quality of Australian cities, yet it also requires a certain level of mindfulness. For Kerle the contemplation of water is as much about observing as it is about a way of being present with oneself and with the world. Hence his attraction to water is multi-layered.