2009

Storytelling as an ever-evolving form linked to old photographs, family gatherings and the anecdotes past on from generation to generation is at the centre of Julie Stephenson’s series 'Hindsight

Set in the iconic Australian veranda these images conjure memories and characters that reveal the private space of the home where family interactions are developed and where personal stories are preserved.

The architectural façade that serves as a boundary between the private and the social is disrupted by ghostly figures glimpsed through the eyes of the house placing the vernacular snapshot and the portrait in its natural context. Julie thus questions the place and validity of these family documents not only as containers of information but as a museum of that subtle of human qualities, emotions.

Its is in a similar vein that Renata Buziak engages the memories of her birthplace in Poland to explore the traces left by the presence of nature in everyday life. By using plant materials she creates metaphoric landscapes that strive to express the passage of time and the vicissitudes of growing up. As the title conveys, 'Afterimage' explores the ineffable nature of our own histories while using nature and its cycles to express ideas of birth and mortality.

Just as Julie and Renata deal with memory as a trace of what once was present and endeavour to create an after image of that recollection, Siegfried Manietta creates a interesting dichotomy between these ideas and the process he uses to create them.

By using the chemogram as a way to produce his images Siegfried removes “the object” of the photograph and in an alchemy of fluids he produces a rather unique event in photography; separating the image from time. Without an object, place or time we perceive these imaginary landscapes outside the commonly associated characteristics of photography, opening their readings to the individual associations of each of one of us. With an imaginary horizon we shift our perception as we try to attach photographic meaning to a deeply lyrical set of works.

In contrast the black and white images of Thom Kotis belong to the tradition of photography as an autobiographical document. His photographs present us with the eye of the photographer, expressing his unique experiences as a sublimation of their world. As we try to unravel the place and meaning of the image we experience the visual recreation of a moment that contains a sense of truth and uniqueness in the eye of the artist. In this sense the images become connected by the unique tread of the photographer’s life, his understanding, conscious and subconscious awareness at a particular moment in time.

As a sense of uncertainty in the truthfulness of the photographic image become more pronounced, photo-media artists have moved in the last ten years to explore the fictional capacity of the medium. Staged and constructed environments have changed the landscape of photography while providing new avenues and genres for the artists to communicate their concerns.

Using the uncanny capacity of photography to explore the past and fictional elements used in children's books Imogen MacDonald brings to life imagined worlds that elucidate our personal relation to reality. Through her elaborate tableaux she questions our inventiveness and freedom of thought, she reminds us of the value of our imaginations at play and celebrates the importance of books.

In a homologous allusion to literature Liz Bolster uses non-linear narratives explored by authors such as J.G. Ballard and Allen Ginsberg to explore the interaction between text and image. 'My Own Words challenges the viewer to create a bridge of meaning and understanding that transcend the relationship of the image and text to suggest new ways of perceiving reality. It is in this perception of everyday life that her work engages a need for a whimsical and philosophical approach to an ever more alienating society.

As an antidote to this dehumanising backdrop Carlos Santos proposes a rebellious act of humble proportions. 'Shoeffiti' - the act of tying two shoes together and propelling them in the air to be suspended on electric power lines - is the chosen form of dissent by this young artist. A rebellious act that might be seen as futile, resonates in a society driven by the illogical behaviour of the market and the masses. This stands as a poignant and humorous comment on the exploitation of youth culture, the lack of community ownership of our urban spaces and the absence of poetry so prevalent in our ageing society.