Old Year New, a collaboration created by Australian photographers Jessie DiBlasi and Robert Gale is their response to the contradiction of Northern Hemisphere end of year rituals overlaid, and often clumsily contextualised, across a southern hemisphere climate. Confronted by the Australian festive narrative of Santa on a surfboard or suffering through roast lunches in sweltering heat, the work observes the history of religious festival, feasting and customs, that all share unique and unifying similarities that invite us as humans to take time to reflect and renew. Old Year New continues as an ongoing exploration of the contrasting cultural, religious and celebratory rituals around the world that occur as one year ends and a new one begins.
