Maria Grujicic Studio

Mystery Plants & Trees grew from my childhood experiences near the Ludmilla Bushblock.

As a child, the bushblock was simply part of everyday life. I did not enter it to learn the names of plants or trees. I entered it to be with it. I walked among the trees without fear, and the animals felt gentle rather than wild, as if they understood I was there in harmony with them.

Years later, as an adult, I returned with a camera to document the beauty of the bushblock before a fence was erected around it. I created The Hidden Beauty of Darwin, a photographic record of the place, as part of an effort to protect it from development.

The illustrations in this book grow from those experiences. They combine memory, observation, imagination, and the quiet relationship I have always felt with the bushblock.

The child in the story represents both my childhood self and my adult self returning to the landscape.