Artist Lizzie Buckmaster Dove makes a conscious effort to walk regularly around the Illawarra's northern suburbs.
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Her favourite journey follows the coastline from her Coledale home to the Austinmer headland.
The walking provides her with an opportunity to pay attention to the environment.
"It's about connecting with place for me," she said.
"Walking is the backbone of my practice. It allows me to connect ideas without any effort.
"It's really like meditation. I'm not able to sit in one place and meditate, yet there's something going on that's quite similar for me when I walk."
'Year of Walking operates as a love song to this history - a gesture to the lyric, romantic, poetic and sublime.'
Beginning with the lunar year in February 2013, Ms Buckmaster Dove walked a daily route along the same stretch of coast for 12 months, which took her past the Coledale sea pool.
She photographed it in all its seasonal and situational variations - full sun, rain, storms approaching, and when the pool was completely submerged.
Ms Buckmaster Dove edited her large collection of photographs to 18 images, which are being shown in the exhibition Year of Walking at Coledale Cafe until April 4.
"The Illawarra has a unique history of sea pools, with the highest density in all of Australia," she said.
"The pools are intimately intertwined with its mining history and refer to a past that was egalitarian.
"They provide a rich cultural heritage and a sense of identity and connection to place.
"Year of Walking operates as a love song to this history - a gesture to the lyric, romantic, poetic and sublime."
Ms Buckmaster Dove's documentation of the pools was also part of the development of her project Pool, the Alchemy of Blue, which was exhibited at the Wollongong Art Gallery in 2013.
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