While these bodies of work constitute separate and distinct responses to the problem of finding new ways to tell stories visually, they were produced in a spirit of close collaboration. Adriane and Aaron met while studying at QCA. Adriane deeply involved in the area of art practice and Aaron committed to social documentary. After finishing their honours year, like so many young Australians, they packed themselves off to South East Asia on a voyage of discovery.

123 Days Away challenges the idea that there are clear lines of demarcation between art and documentary areas of photo media practice. The artists drew on their respective disciplines to construct complimentary narratives to trace their journey. Adriane collects objects as souvenirs, bus tickets, plastic cutlery, miniature shampoo bottles, bits of string; the sorts of things we usually overlook or discard. Back home she uses a flat bed scanner to collage narrative assemblages. Aaron takes a more traditional approach, SLR slung over his shoulder; he searches for revealing or ironic moments taking place before his cameras lens. The resulting images are combined with entries from his travel diaries. Both Adriane and Aaron’s bodies of work interweave to construct journals of sorts. While the strategies used by each artist produce very different outcomes, they both culminate in evocative, anecdotal narratives told with poetry, allegory, irony, evidential authority and sincerity.

Extract from catalogue essay by Ray Cook, the catalogue will be available from the QCP during the exhibition.