Under the Influence

Around the Block, Next Wave, Brunswick, 2026

Under the Influence follows Gary the Dolphin journey, this time looking in to how beliefs are shaped, shifting from a coastal/urban context into a rural setting.

Filmed largely off the cuff, the work is centered on Gary’s encounters with strangers who have met him along his journey from Nambucca Heads, NSW to Good Bank Gallery in McLaren Vale, SA through rural NSW/VIC. Many participants were contacted through Facebook community noticeboards, alongside spontaneous vox-pop encounters. These conversations unfold as a kind of informal confessional: a space where people speak openly, revealing personal reflections, contradictions, and deeply held views. The camera operates not as a interrogator but more as a silent witness: present, attentive, but non-judgemental.

During these interactions, what influences people’s beliefs emerges not as something imposed, but as something embedded and determined by language, upbringing, environment, and the subtle desire to belong. Participants navigate questions in real time, sometimes reconsidering their positions, other times reinforcing them, exposing the fluid nature of belief.

Participants have been generous and candid, allowing for moments of vulnerability and attentiveness. Rather than offering fixed conclusions, the video invites viewers into a shared space considering how beliefs are formed and held, helping Gary conceptualise his own versions of truth and belief.