Bridging utopian thinking with the reality of climate change. In Saline, Debra Phillips explores connections between historical utopian thinking and responses to current ecological crises. This new series of photographs builds upon her long-term interest in the way people have imagined, described and created versions of the ideal society. Inspired by a visit to architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux’s ideal factory town, the Royal Saltworks of Chaux at Arc-et-Senans, France (built in 1775-79), Saline documents temporary summer gardens—designed in collaboration with school children—surrounding the historic sandstone buildings of the Saltworks. Today, work continues on Ledoux’s never-completed circular town design, not with further buildings but more gardens, focused upon promoting biodiversity and education. Phillips’ images depict a changing, seasonal environment, drawing attention to issues of climate change and collapsing ecologies. Slipping nature into a saturated artificial realm, these images occupy a blurred space between photography and data visualisation. Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants Image: Debra Phillips, Model of the Cemetery of the city of Chaux, Arc-et-Senans, Musée Ledoux, 2015/2024.