Community & Business
9 February, 2026
Combination of art and science
Former Spring Creek resident and well-known Clifton district personality Naomi McKenzie has just concluded a very successful exhibition, titled ‘Elements of Surprise’, displaying her considerable photographic skills across ten days at the Ipswich Community Gallery.
The Ipswich Community Gallery is a space managed by the Ipswich Art Gallery which offers 15 opportunities via application, a year to practicing artists/groups in the community.
Naomi, who now lives at Toogoolawah with husband Jim and their two sons, was fortunate enough to be one of the fifteen chosen for the year.
During the ten days of her exhibition, more than 300 people visited.
Even better, Naomi sold all but one of the works she had nominated for sale.
“The exhibition received incredible feedback that far exceeded my expectations,” she told The Clifton Courier.
The photographic art Naomi produces is some-what unique.
Working at the inter-section of art and science, she maintains a deeply hands-on practice, choosing to be consciously engaged with each step of the process.
Her work unfolds through constant observation and real-time interaction, responding to how materials behave, how light shifts and how natural chemistry reveals itself moment by moment.
This deliberate presence transforms the darkroom/studio into a space of discovery where Naomi’s scientific curiosity and artistic intuition work in tandem.
Elements of Surprise became an invitation to immerse oneself in the environment a little deeper and reconsider what a photograph can be.
