During the past 12-18 months many have dreamt about a secret garden, a place to escape from the realities of a worsening pandemic, a garden full of colour and life, of butterflies and birds, blossoming flowers and cool shady trees to filter out the hot summer sun.
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Renee Hibbert has found that garden through her unique style of photography and a desire to flee from an uncertain future following the COVID-19 pandemic and a brush with cancer.
The Garden was borne as the world shut down, as we were all told to stay inside, Renee said.
"As my walls closed in I began to create a place of wonder, with no confines, where anything could grow and anything was possible."
Stuck at home and unable to continue with her sideline as a portrait photographer, the Year 5 Cardiff South Public School teacher began to create her fantasy garden.
The Garden is a series of unique portrait shots surrounded by nature in its full glory, surprisingly photographed in Renee's former Newcastle home.
"Every element of The Garden has been dragged into my lounge room," Renee said.
Most creations in the 14 series collection began with just a bitesize idea.
"I don't know where the inspiration came from, but it has grown bigger than I ever intended."
Each element of The Garden has been painstakingly created by hand; every gown, insect and bunch of flowers have been lovingly handcrafted by this multi-skilled woman, while at the same time she has spent many hours collecting natural props from bushland and beaches.
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Her impressive piece, The Chaos of Colour featuring 25-year-old daughter Marcie began with Renee meticulously cutting out more than a thousand tiny paper butterflies, designing and sewing a ball grown before hot gluing every butterfly onto the outfit.
It is overly complicated, hughly time wasting, but it is deeply satisfying for myself.
- Renee Hibbert
"It is overly complicated, hugely time wasting, but it is deeply satisfying for myself."
Spending hundreds of hours before the shoot envisioning the scene, designing and building the set, making props, and sewing the costumes, Renee said photography played just a small part in her art.
It is hard to believe Renee has had no formal training in dress and prop making, just a couple of online photography courses.
She certainly would now be one of Spotlight's most loyal customers buying hundreds of metres of fabrics and bits-n-bobs for The Garden series.
Earlier this year, and eight months into The Garden Renee's journey changed irrevocably when she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer.
Shockingly, there was not a hint of cancer; no lump just a feeling of discomfort in her left breast which was originally believed to have been either mastitis or lymph nodes.
Rushed to hospital, Renee had 18 out of 19 lymph nodes removed and began a gruelling round of chemotherapy and radiation.
Returning home to Green Point and unconditional support from mum and dad through chemo treatment at Forster Private Hospital, Renee continued to work on her fantasy world, escaping the fear of the unknown, albeit a darker journey.
"There is nothing I can think of which is more therapeutic and satisfying; having a project while I have been going through this has saved my mental sanity.
"Being so sick and afraid, it has been my saving grace."
Renee's next chapter begins with the end of her radiation.
"At the moment I am in treatment mode; I have to get my head around it.
"But, I think next year will be brighter."
FOOTNOTE: Renee finished her treatment in late November.
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