The Daylight Moon

Photography Exhibition Review

The Daylight Moon | Francis Cai

M16 Artspace | 19 April – 12 May 2024

Francis Cai, a fine art photographer and xR (Extended Reality) film director, is 25 years old and based in Sydney. He graduated from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and from the University of Sydney with a Master of Moving Image. After graduating, he co-founded Studio 13 Sydney and extended his practice by participating in residency programs in France and New York City.

Cai’s recent post-pandemic era photographs frequently highlight strange landscapes and growing self-awareness. In the uncertain times he has experienced, he aims to sensitively examine differences in various living environments and cultures.

The Daylight Moon series artworks exhibited here are intended “to conjure up a spacetime to accommodate unattainable and unchangeable elements in reality.” Thus, it is evident that these pieces of art belong to the hyperrealist movement, which enhances reality in order to produce illusions. Visitors would have trouble telling the difference between reality and a simulation of reality in most of the displayed images. The artist has thus achieved success.

There are seventeen high quality black and white archival framed inkjet prints of various sizes, all on Hahnemühle FineArt paper, plus a single one-minute digital video titled Aphelios I. From the Greek, Aphelios means Away from Helios. Away from the Sun. Little hints about the exhibits contents can be found in this title and the prints’ titles. But each visitor’s interpretation of each piece of art is essentially their own challenge, and it’s likely that many will see different things and take different interpretations.

Certain scenes appear bigger, more significant, better, or worse than they actually are. They have an odd, enigmatic quality that is a little unsettling. For some viewers, emotionally charged thoughts, feelings, memories, and impulses may even be triggered by unexpected connections between seemingly unrelated elements within the images. Our imaginations will run wild, and we will see fantasies. I thought of the frequently tumultuous clamour we witness in our parliaments. Additionally, I was reminded that we frequently hear nowadays about people being misled by dishonest, cunning, manipulative social media users.

And that’s precisely what Cai aims to accomplish by utilizing clips and images to create a fantasy world that defies time and space through a non-linear, fractured sequence of visual excerpts that evoke emotional shortcuts. He digitally manipulates black and white film negatives. Aberrant connections have given rise to deceptive states, like those we might imagine or encounter in our dreams. His entire endeavour is an exploration of the tainted connection between subjectivity and documentation.

In the print titled Awakening Moment, I certainly saw part of a feminine face , including an eye and slightly open lips. I expect you would too. But what else do you see? What emotion do you feel? For you, how do documentation and subjectivity connect in this artwork?

Awakening Moment, 2022 © Francis Cai

Likewise, Sunflower clearly includes some petals that shout sunflower. But what are the other elements about, what do they say to your imagination?

Sunflower, 2022 © Francis Cai

Sundial Dreams is a more complex image. There are a considerably greater number of elements within the frame, much detail to examine if you are drawn to do so, sharp areas as well as blurred or soft-focus spaces.

Sundial Dreams, 2022 © Francis Cai

Similarly, Under the Dome, has many elements for our eyes to explore and our imaginations to browse.

Under the Dome, 2023 © Francis Cai

In Time Reflection I saw simplicity. The reflection of something – whatever you want it to be – and the outlined shapes on the reflecting surface are simply that – a reflection and shapes. However, we still can, and should, look beyond this documentation and subjectively seek our own connections to it.

Time Reflection, 2022 © Francis Cai

If unable to visit the exhibition the other works can be viewed here.

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

Life in the Old Dog, Yet

Photography Exhibition Review

Life in the Old Dog, Yet | Brian Jones

M16 Artspace Gallery | 18 April 2024 – 12 May 2024

Canberra photographer Brian Jones says he is continually fascinated by the world around him, and that is reflected in his diverse and ever-changing photographic interests. He has a Graduate Diploma in Visual Art (Photography and Media Arts) from ANU School of Art. Previous exhibitions include his 2009 ANU Graduate Exhibition (A glass half full: portraits of an age) and 2012 Bowerbird Central at Hugh Davies Gallery.

Jones has written too often, senior citizens are devalued, dehumanised and seen as merely a burden. This is especially true in the aged care context, as examined by the recent Royal Commission, which emphasised the need for dignity and respect for those in care. It is also true more generally, with seniors often seen as just a demographic, with individuals written off as ‘elderly’ or ‘oxygen thieves’ of little intrinsic worth.

Personally, I am aware that some younger folk might not think much about the seniors in their lives. I’m a senior and not aware of anyone considering me to be a burden. For that, I am most grateful. But I do understand that younger folk with their own full lives might rarely think about contacting or visiting their senior family members. I also agree that some people tend to devalue seniors, perhaps considering them to have passed their usefulness. I once had a most interesting chat with my Vietnamese GP about the “responsibilities” of younger family members to care for their parents and grandparents. It highlighted for me the substantial differences between cultures about such matters.

This exhibition encourages viewers of the work to celebrate the humanity, dignity and value of senior citizens. The quality black and white portraits of a substantial group of women and men in their 70s – one is 82 – reveal people who are very much alive. Their expressions convey something of their enjoyment of life. These are real people, happily posing for the artist, enjoying the experience. The images are fresh. The subjects “look sharp”.

Di Cooper, 77, 2023 © Brian Jones

We also learn that the subjects are all highly active. They still contribute to society and enjoy life, notwithstanding the “ravages of time” revealed in lined faces. Apparently, some have had joint replacements, might be living with cancer, or have slowed down in some respects. But they haven’t stopped living. Their contributions include political and environmental activism, volunteering, grand-parenting and providing other family support.

Jill Jones, 74, granny, 2023 © Brian Jones

As well as the portraits already mentioned, there are equally excellent action shots – images showing these people are very much alive. They bushwalk, run, play croquet and tennis, swim, busk, participate in athletic throwing events and work on body building.

Bushwalking mob, Watson’s Crags, 2017 © Brian Jones

Bob Gingold, 72, croquet, 2023 © Brian Jones

Jan Banens, 82, hammer throw, 2024 © Brian Jones

Jones himself is a subject. There is a self portrait and an action shot of him throwing a discus. For the latter image he set his camera up on a tripod and activated its burst mode. His wife pushed the shutter release to trigger the camera into capturing many shots, from which he selected the one being shown. Of course, the exhibition also reveals that this senior is actively involved in creating photo artworks.

Brian Jones, 75, discus, 2023 © Brian Jones

Jones says the seniors he has photographed accept being ‘old dogs’ and showing a bit of wear and tear, but are certainly not ready to shuffle off quietly into the sunset. He suggests that senior citizens are an under-explored area in contemporary Art. He hopes this exhibition will inspire other artists to explore the space and some other old dogs into action.

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

Volver (The Return)

Photography Exhibition Review: Photography

Volver (The Return) | Judith Martinez Estrada

Photo Access | 15 March 2024 – 27 April 2024

Two exhibitions running concurrently at Photo Access explore identity and memory, in quite different ways. Volver (The Return) is one of them. The artist Judith Martinez Estrada has focussed on migration as well. Starting in 2017, she comprehensively explored her paternal family’s apartment in Madrid, which they had rented for more than 100 years. Unearthing photos, documents and other material relating to her family gave her a significant volume of mixed media to which she has applied a variety of techniques.

Three babies had been born at the flat. Two people had died there. A century of family life had been lived there with all its highs and lows. The family’s history and the memories of all who had lived there was powerful and very much overlapped. As the relationship between the apartment and the artist’s grandparents, aunt and parents changed, so the memories altered – as they tend to for many, if not most, of us. As we get older we sometimes forget things long remembered. Sometimes we recall things from our early years which we have not thought of for a long time, if ever. Personally, my earliest knowledge of family history comes not from actual memories of the events but from hearing a story told over and over. Sometimes we are unsure whether an apparent memory is a real one.

So, what is the artist revealing to us here of this significant treasure of her family’s memories? Charu Maithani’s catalogue essay provides considerable background. Her documentation of the apartment became the catalyst in Martinez Estrada’s practice that brings together personal and political histories alongside archival and digital artistic techniques. Working with layers she creates a temporal and spatial juxtaposition of memories and objects. Each layer in the works creates spaces for remembrances to be added, including ones we do not know of yet. Layering allows multiple entry points and numerous recollections and half-rememberings to coexist.

In series of works entitled Family Biographies, photos and a variety of documents are held together using various means, such as rubber bands and paper clips. Has this been done to hide some of the past, the memories, the history? What else is there in the closed book, on the notebook pages not visible to us, in the photos hidden behind the top ones? Or are the assembled objects being presented to us as a symbol, telling us that the apartment which binds family members together will continue to draw back those still living?

Family-Biographies-Biografias-Familiares-XII-2018 – installation image provided by Photo Access

Another series Unknown Portraits uses strips to cover faces, thereby further hiding the already unknown identity of the people photographed at an unknown time in the past.

Unknown-Portraits-Retratos-Desconocidos-II-2018 – installation image provided by Photo Access

Two prints exhibited side by side share the title When God Left. The left side one spoke clearly to me of a god. A hand gesturing towards us is familiar to all who grew up attending Christian schools or churches. Here though we also see a nail hole telling us the artwork partially included is of Christ after his crucifixion – when he had left his earthly life. A video work tells us that Estrada’s grandfather played a role in the relocation and protection of artwork during the Spanish Civil War. Also displayed is a reproduction of an official commendation for that work. His granddaughter is now tracing and recreating the journeys he made transporting artworks from Madrid to Valencia. Did this painting of Christ belong to Grandfather Ramon?

When-God-Left-I-2018 – installation image provided by Photo Access

Old images of grandparent’s Ramon and Emilia are on display, overlaid on new images of things in the apartment.

Ramon-II-2019 – installation image provided by Photo Access

There is much more to see, explore and consider in this fine exhibition. If you are able to do so, visit the gallery whilst this and its companion exhibition (also about identity and memory) are showing. If you can’t get there, at least take a look at some of her other works here or on her Instagram account.

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

Poison Berries

Photography Exhibition Review: Photography

Poison Berries | Janhavi Sharma

Photo Access | 15 March 2024 – 27 April 2024

Two exhibitions running concurrently explore identity and memory, in quite different ways. Poison Berries is one of them.

Janhavi Sharma is a visual artist from India currently living and working in Nottingham, UK. In this exhibition she reflects on her childhood and heritage. She uses orange poison berries from her backyard layered over images as a metaphor relating to the interwoven continuity of time. There are 32 untitled inkjet prints displayed in a single group.

Installation image – provided by Photo Access

This artist often uses food in her practice as a mutating metaphor. Orange poison berries are an inedible fruit. Growing in the artist’s garden they attract songbirds and remind her of present pasts.

The booklet available in the gallery about this show contains many very expressive words about the poison berries written by Meher Manda, a writer, culture critic, editor and educator from Mumbai (Bombay), India but currently stationed in the USA. The material addresses a range of questions, including Why, Where and What are the poison berries? I found those words enormously valuable in understanding and appreciating the works on display. the artist feeds on a photograph for more Absolutely true. But here the viewers of the photographs not only feed on them for more but also should feed on the words.

Scan of middle pages of booklet

orange diffused at the foot of the plastic chair, durable, timeless refers to an image of just that. It is a good image. I would have enjoyed it completely devoid of context. But what is it all about here? Again, Manda’s words: say what the memory of one’s own forgone story? orange provide a starting point for our thoughts. What are your memories of your own forgone story? Are they merely a delicate thread woven into the fabric of your existence? Do they whisper secrets to you, only you? What do they reveal to you of journeys in your earlier life? Had you even forgotten them? As we grow older each of our memories, once vivid – even alive, fade into what some have described as quiet chambers of remembrance. How would you illustrate your memories before they fade so that you might recall them from those illustrations in your later life?

Janhavi Shama, Untitled 30 – installation image provided by Photo Access

In another image a child’s face is covered with the orange berries. She is standing alongside the trunk of a tree. A child limp on the stillness of a photograph. Her memory: orange. Again, words to stimulate our thinking, about what the author is saying relating to her memories. There are more in the booklet for you to read and consider as you stand before the block of images. About a mother’s orange bloodline. About a tree promising life yet bearing the poison berries.

Janhavi Shama, Untitled 27 – installation image provided by Photo Access

Another print features a small bird amongst the mainly bare branches of a shrub. Is it a hummingbird that fed on the berries before they fell from the branches? But wait on, it does not appear to be an evergreen shrub. sit on it and fly away … regurgitated as a photograph …. attracting … hummingbirds

Janhavi Shama, Untitled 16 – installation image provided by Photo Access

There is much more, in both the images and the words. Read about the what, when, where and why of the poison berries. Then, as you explore the images, consider both what they mean for the artist and what they mean us viewing them, whether we had orange berries in our past lives or not. As this artist has done, we should dare to reflect on our own childhoods, to explore the intersections between our gender, our memories and our relationships with physical environments.

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

Holiday Postcards

I recently printed three images at 6 by 4 inches size. Why, I hear you asking. Well, the committee of the Canberra Photographic Society decided to have Holiday Postcards as the subject for its monthly Exhibition & Critique meeting – you might know such a meeting as Competition night at your club, but ours removed the use of the term “competition” some years ago and does not have an arrangement whereby members accumulate points towards an end of year trophy. (A score out of 5 is given to each entry and those given scores of 4 or more increase the number of entries their owners can submit to the Print of the Year event.) All entries for this meeting had to be printed A6, 6×4 or 5×7. There were no separate Open entries and no Projected Images this month.

Digital copies of our prints had to be uploaded to an online gallery so that members participating only via Zoom could see them whilst they were being exhibited and critiqued in the club’s meeting room. But the guest critic only saw the actual prints on the wall of the room.

A large part of the committee’s reason for this event (if not the only reason) was, I think, to try and attract more members to enter prints each month by giving them an opportunity to make prints on whatever printer they might have or get them printed commercially at very low cost. Time will tell whether or not more folk will enter prints in future.

The guest who critiqued our postcards was very much suited to that task. Chris Holly has been a professional photographer and more in Canberra for many years. He has critiqued for our club many times over those years. But, most interestingly, he worked for some time in a government agency seeking to promote tourism to Canberra and that, of course, involved the use of images that would attract people to visit our capital city for a whole host of reasons. That meant Chris had some most interesting observations to make about why some of the entered prints of locations visited and things seen on holidays made good postcards.

Chris also had done considerable research into the history and purpose of postcards over the years and that too enabled him to make some most pertinent observations about our various prints. And, during the course of the evening, he also revealed some thoughts about postcards that he had as late as when he was on his way to the meeting. All “judges” should be as thorough in their preparation!

My own research since listening to Chris found an excerpt from a book by a Lydia Pyne titled Postcards – The Rise and Fall of the World’s First Social Network. It informed me that “Postcards have been printed, sold, mailed, and received on a scale that makes them, historically, the largest class of artifacts that humankind has ever exchanged. There are a lot of different ways to dig into the history of postcards and any history will inevitably be incomplete. Although postcards were a mass medium, they were – and still are – a disposable one. This disposability means that there are holes in the historical record, making a complete archive of all the world’s postcards inherently impossible.”

The University of Chicago Press website entry about Pyne’s book says “Postcards are usually associated with banal holiday pleasantries, but they are made possible by sophisticated industries and institutions, from printers to postal services. When they were invented, postcards established what is now taken for granted in modern times: the ability to send and receive messages around the world easily and inexpensively. Fundamentally they are about creating personal connections – links between people, places, and beliefs. Lydia Pyne examines postcards on a global scale, to understand them as artifacts that are at the intersection of history, science, technology, art, and culture. In doing so, she shows how postcards were the first global social network and also, here in the twenty-first century, how postcards are not yet extinct.”

After hearing another member comment that postcards generally have words on them identifying the place that they feature such as “Greetings from …..”, I decided to add words to my images. I spent some time carefully thinking about the font styles, sizes and colours I would use for the words. I also decide to print them without borders. More of my research reveals that, although many postcards have white borders, even modern ones, they are mostly those published between 1915 and 1930 approximately.

So, what postcards did I make and enter and what did Chris think of them? I guess I haven’t yet added them to “the largest class of artifacts that humankind has ever exchanged” – should I write messages on the reverse side and post them to people I know? (Chris kept saying he wanted to turn our entries over to read their messages.)

Greetings from Silverton was taken during the 2023 APS Meet-Up in and around Broken Hill. The message on the pile of tyres amused me and the modern wind turbines on the hills near to this not-so-modern dirt road attracted my attention as I headed for the heritage cemetery. I chose a font that sort of matched that on the tyres and used a red to match that on the sign at the left.

Greetings from Silverton © Brian Rope

My Lyndonville postcard shows colourful things I saw in Vermont when I visited in the “Fall”. I chose a text colour to tone in with all the other colours in the image and what I thought was a somewhat old-fashioned font that I felt “fitted” the mood of the photo.

LYNDONVILLE – Vermont-USA © Brian Rope

My Piha postcard shows Lion Rock (also known as Te Piha) – a stunning natural attraction and a sacred spiritual site for the Te Kawerau a Maki people who once lived in the area. It juts up from the Tasman Sea near the mouth of Piha Stream, separating the north and south sides of the “black sand” beach. The strong font I used for the word Piha matches the strong rock, whilst the delicate font for the other words might be seen as representing the tracery of the clouds or the grains of sand. The font colour was used to match the dark brooding colour of the rock as shown in the image. I’ve visited this lovely place a couple of times on trips to New Zealand.

PIHA – Auckland-New Zealand © Brian Rope

And, finally, what scores did Chris Holly give to my three postcards. Along with most other entries he awarded each of them a 4 out of 5. A small number received scores of 3.5 and just two were given 4.5. But, in my view, the scores are not important. The range of interesting responses to the challenge and the critique commentaries on all the entries are the important things – as they always should be, so we learn.

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This article was first published on pages 18-21 of the April 2024 issue of The Printer here.

Birds and Nature – A Photographer’s Perspective

Exhibition Review: Photography

Birds and Nature – A Photographer’s Perspective| Binh Le Thanh

Kyeema Gallery at Capital Wines, Gladstone Street, Hall | 7 March – 7 April 2024

This is Binh Le Thanh’s first exhibition. It essentially falls into two parts – one is all about birds in nature. The other set of images are astrophotography – also known as astronomical imaging – which is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky.

The artist’s website reveals that he grew up surrounded by books about the famous photographers Art Wolfe and Frans Lanting, which he says brought him closer to nature. Nowadays he likes nothing better than spending hours “in the woods” watching birds and listening to the sound of the wind in the trees while taking in all the beauty of the wilderness.

When I asked how he got started in photography, Le Thanh told me his parents introduced him to it and encouraged him. Indeed, we learned that we had very similar experiences of picking up and using cameras from the days of our early childhoods.

Le Thanh, says that, for him, photography is about capturing the unique moments and feelings he has experienced with wildlife, the smell in the air, the intense mood within the silence and serenity of nature. In other words, it’s a way of preserving his memories enabling him to revisit those precious moments. His Instagram presence describes him as a nature shooter who happens to love the night sky.

This is a substantial exhibition of good quality framed prints. However, I feel there are too many in the show. Most are hung very close together in the small gallery space, whilst some are hung in various available smaller areas of walls in the wine tasting part of the venue. I suggest the artist would have benefitted from having an experienced curator plan the placement of his works – and to cull them down so that individual works might be better viewed and explored. I would also recommend having speakers at exhibition openings who have a good understanding of photography. That would enable visitors attending to hear some good commentary about the works and the purpose behind them.

Some other excellent photographers active in both fields – birds and astrophotography – have complimented this artist on these artworks. One has said the prints are breathtaking, the colours good and realistic, and the combination of subjects and backgrounds clever and harmonious. Getting the colours right is important to portray birds accurately. All good nature photographers will quickly draw attention to colours that are too saturated or simply not right. I am no expert, but the colours in this artist’s works appear to be spot on to me.

Golden Headed © Bien Le Thanh

Brown Thornbill © Bien Le Thanh

Red Capped Mum © Bien Le Thanh

The astro images are composed very well and reveal the artist’s technical skills. I was told by another gallery visitor who also is into astro photography that one of the locations photographed requires a walk (at night) over uneven ground from a carpark for a good hour. It also has to be the right time of year when specific features will be present in the night sky. Of course the photographer must also carry all the right gear with which to get the desired image.

Le Thanh has chosen some excellent locations for his astro shots, including a number that feature country dwellings and churches.

Westerman © Bien Le Thanh

St Thomas © Binh Le Thanh

Other astro shots show beautiful landscapes.

Canola near Harden © Binh Le Thanh

So, whether your interests are specifically birds or nature or astro, or photographic art generally, this is an exhibition you can enjoy, whilst also checking out some good quality wines.

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

MONACHOPSIS

Exhibition Review: Photography

MONACHOPSIS | Hilary Wardhaugh

CCAS Manuka | 14 – 24 March 2024

Speaking at the opening of her exhibition, local long-established career professional photographer, Hilary Wardhaugh, announced it was the first step in her new career as an artist. There was much laughter and positive response to that. Having long believed artists can emerge later in their life journeys – without undertaking formal tertiary art studies – I was delighted.

Wardhaugh has been capturing images for around 27 years, specialising in portrait, event, editorial and branding photography. But now, she proclaimed, a separate artist career was also underway.

In fact, this photographer’s website states that, more than a photographer, she considers herself an artist, activist/provocateur, volunteer and creator of community. It says her creative endeavours bring people together in the pursuit of a better world, her interest involves the human condition: irony and contradiction – and she also pursues topical and creative projects to highlight a theme or an issue, most recently climate change.

Wardhaugh has curated many projects involving women and photography; for example, Loud and Luminous (with Mel Anderson as co-Creator) and most recently a climate change project, The #everydayclimatecrisis Visual Petition, which achieved global recognition. Those projects have clearly demonstrated this photographer is an artist, activist, etc.

So this artist is very passionate about using photography as activism and demonstrating that through artistic, provocative and innovative means. And that is just what she is doing with this solo exhibition.

I had not previously heard the word monachopsis so turned to online sources seeking its meaning. I learned it is a new word, coined by writer John Koenig in his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. It describes the feeling of being maladapted to your surroundings, like a seal on a beach. Monachopsis is temporary for most people and diminishes when the unfamiliar becomes familiar and new routines and unknown faces become norms.

I now know I have personally experienced monachopsis as a result of being in a new and not familiar situation. I’m sure everyone else has had the same type of experience. But have we had quite the type of experience Wardhaugh has put before us here?

The journey that has culminated in this exhibition actually began in June 2016 when Wardhaugh saw the Queanbeyan River’s bank was littered with what she has described as “the detritus of the capitalist Anthropocene era”, and as a “grim testament to our collective negligence.” The sight stirred within her “a potent blend of horror and introspection.”

However, these exhibited artworks were created later. Wardhaugh visited Indonesia’s Bintan Island, and Greece’s Santorini. Again, the artist saw vast quantities of waste on beaches. I only saw pristine beaches on those two islands when I visited them many years ago; clearly our personal experiences depend on where we go and when.

So, this exhibition of artworks by this emerging artist is very much a response to experiences, revealing her hope that nature might reclaim those beaches.

Portrait of a discarded plastic sunscreen bottles cultivated by molluscs on Bintan © Hilary Wardhaugh

Feral car reclaimed by prickly pear on Santorini © Hilary Wardhaugh

Derelict building spoiling the natural landscape on Santorini © Hilary Wardhaugh

The artist has also created a site-specific artwork, placing digital copies of waste objects she found onto a long decal laid on the gallery floor. Her aim was to make exhibition visitors reflect on their responsibility to our planet. During the opening numerous visitors unintentionally walked on that artwork.

There is a very large print filling the entire end wall of the gallery space. And there is to be a closing ticketed event with composer @ruthleemartin who has created three new pieces of music in response to the exhibition.

Everything in this splendid exhibition encourages reflection about human impact on the environment. It transports us into that unsettling place to which monachopsis refers. Wardhaugh’s belief that art can provoke valuable conversations and lead to meaningful action underpins her purpose. And she has most successfully achieved what she set out to do.

This review (in an abbreviated form) was first published by Canberra City News on 17 March 2024 here. It is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

With Nature

Visual Art Exhibition Review

With Nature | Bridget Baskerville, Megan Cope, Wendy Dawes, Marley Dawson, Sammy Hawker, Annika Romeyn (curated by Alexander Boynes)

CCAS Lakeside | 10 February – 6 April 2024

With Nature is about environmental changes happening because of us. Six contemporary Australian artists address the issues, aligning the materials they employ in their studios to convey their messages.

The landscape has influenced their work outcomes, revealing our impacts on Earth’s transformation. Humans have the ability to collaborate, but we need to explore our frequent failure to do so with respect to nature. These artists, working in photography, drawing, sculpture and textiles, ask “how can we collaborate with our natural environment to better understand how to live a sustainable future on this planet?”

Kamberri/Canberra-based Sammy Hawker is showing a number of her marvellous salt works here. These photographs (created across the Yuin Nation on Walbunja & Djiringanj Country) explore repeated motifs presented by salt in the ocean. Her experimental technique challenges traditional approaches to film development and cultivates a deeper connection between art and nature. She allows the environment to shape the outcome saying, “the crosses and fractals feel like signs of sentience, marks of the deeper frequency” and “Earth’s oceans were created from forms of water that came from outer space – a combination of icy comets and grains of solar dust. It feels the oceans hold material memory of this interstellar resonance.”

Murramarang NP #1, 2020 – Pigment inkjet print 110 x 110 cm © Sammy Hawker

Emerging artist Bridget Baskerville has previously explored the effect of extractive industries on waterways around her Kandos hometown. Dead River (2023) shown here originated from a 2023 residency in Queenstown, Lutruwita/Tasmania when she explored how the Queen River, one of Australia’s most polluted waterways, interacted with immersed copper plates. A 2-channel video shows her work in progress, and a superb set of corroded copper plates created by an etching process in the water, reveal bright orange rust patterns. The plates indicate the impact of extractive industries on water systems.

Dead River, (detail) 2023, corroded copper plates, 2 channel video, dimensions variable © Bridget Baskerville

Annika Romeyn, another Kamberri/Canberra-based artist contributes more corrosion/rust in a very different artwork. This artist combines watercolour, drawing and printmaking processes to create intricate and immersive works on paper looking to convey a restorative experience of being in nature, focussing on the threshold of rock and water. Wana Karnu (2024) is a spectacular multi-panel rust and ink drawing which captures her experience of walking gravelly ridges in Mutawintji National Park at sunset. The work reveals rich colours of iron oxide and ‘rock rust’ formed when iron, oxygen and water interact.

Wana Karnu (detail) – rust and ink, 2024 on Rives BFK 300gsm paper 240X360cm © Annika Romeyn

Quandamooka artist Megan Cope, from Minjerribah/North Stradbroke Island, is known for her site-specific sculptural installations, public art, and paintings. She blended art and conservation with Indigenous history and practice in her impressive large-scale midden installation Whispers at the entrance to the Sydney Opera House in 2023. Comprising a 14m wall and 200 timber Kinyingarra Guwinyanba poles covered in Kinyingarra (oyster) shells, it emphasised the resilience, and historic erasure, of First Nations custodianship, culture and Country at the world-renowned site. Here again we are asked to consider the role of art in bringing about cultural and ecological change. A single channel video reveals the landscape of country. It is well worth watching. It clearly reveals what we all should be looking for and seeing wherever in this land we live or visit.

‘Kinyingarra Guwinyanba’ 2022, Burogari (Cyprus Pine), Kinyinyarra (Sydney Rock Oyster) shell and stainless-steel trace wire Photo by Cian Sanders © Megan Cope

Wendy Dawes has created a remarkable perpetual motion machine, using an overhead projector with a deconstructed monitor to show, on a screen, permanent marker drawings on transparency film. A meter measuring power consumption during the exhibition acknowledges the artist’s personal use of resources and highlights the need for more renewable energy sources.

‘Perpetual Motion Machine’ (work in progress), 2024 © Wendy Dawes

Using chemistry, mechanics and construction techniques, Marley Dawson creates sculptures and installations that highlight some outlandish aspects of our world and ourselves. He is dedicated to pushing the limits of what is considered to be art and encouraging dialogue about the wonders of our environment and ourselves. One of his contributions to this exhibition is a stunning and high-quality artwork constructed from brass, steel and timber and utilising electrics to produce a mesmerising hum from brass pieces vibrating against each other.

Hum (Louis + Morris), 2022, brass, steel, timber, electrics, 184 x 71 x 6cm – Marley Dawson

Concluding his curator’s essay, Alexander Boynes writes “Together, these six artists demonstrate art’s ability to prompt introspection, foster conversation, and inspire action in addressing environmental challenges.”

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

VIEW 2024

Photography Exhibition Review

VIEW 2024 | Caleb Arcifa, Juncture Collective, Rose Hartley, Brittany Hefren, Emma Phillips, George Pople

Photo Access | 25 January – 9 March 2024

PhotoAccess has launched its 2024 Exhibition Program with VIEW2024, its annual showcase of emerging photo-media artists from the ACT and surrounding regions.

Caleb Arcifa shows us one work comprising silver gelatin photos and a mixed media installation. It’s interactive – touch it to create your auditory identity.

Brittany Hefren displays three delightful collages with holes cut in front prints revealing something of childhood’s imagined memories. In one work, wisteria not only creeps over a suburban front fence but spills out of a window on the house behind that fence.

Emma Phillips explores Artificial Intelligence. AI has created quite a storm with many people expressing diverse concerns whilst others see great benefits. There has been considerable discussion of it in the context of photography, with some groups banning it and others embracing it. Many photographers use it, perhaps even unwittingly, whilst post-processing their images with various software packages.

From Phillips we see what happened when the prompt “what is gender” in various languages was put into an image generator. The results perpetuated binary gender roles and the belief that heterosexual is the only normal and natural sexual orientation. And also affirmed the view that representing someone or something in an idealised way or through cultural stereotypes is appropriate.

Emma Phillips, from Generative Genders, 2024

Rose Hartley shows us five works from Frames, an evolving series. She is looking to reveal the connections between people and the environments and settings in which they exist. These images are all interesting. I was particularly drawn to A Palestinian Wedding which shows a mirror reflection of a woman wearing a headpiece, close by a hairpiece that, presumably, she might wear to the wedding.

Rose Hartley, A Palestinian Wedding, 2018

Photo Access Director Alex Robinson’s catalogue essay tells us “The Juncture Collective brings together the work of several artists working with emerging technology to consider its social, political and economic impacts critically.”  The artists are Sophie Dumaresq, Rory Gillen and Emily April O’Neill. Dumaresq is probably the most well-known not just to Canberra audiences but, through her success – for example, as winner of the 2022 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize – to a wider audience. She is displaying three artworks – one a digital print & mixed media. Another a digital video. The third an installation comprising a digital video, an expanse of fluffy pink carpet (also on the floor in her digital print), cow pillows and a beanbag.

O’Neill contributes an interactive installation with several parts. Gillen gives us a digital video. Both these artworks also have that fluffy pink on the floor below. Juncture’s works use emerging technologies – AI, DALL-E and ChatGPT – to critically consider their impacts. Whatever else you make of the Juncture artworks you will certainly find them absorbing – and yourself smiling.

Sophie Dumaresq (Juncture Collective), What’s In A Postcard? Baby I just wanted to make you smile, 2023

George People is responding to the dark aspects of this country’s military activities in Afghanistan, in particular the Ben Roberts Smith defamation trial. The artist set up his own “memorial” at the top of Anzac Parade in Canberra. His installation here includes the created video work, a tower of laptops (fortunately not burning as Roberts Smith was found guilty of doing), and one working laptop looping through pages from the 2020 Brereton Report which shed light on concealed war crimes. This is a powerful artwork, challenging viewers to think about the dominant military account.

George Pople, Additional Content, 2023

So, this exhibition emphasises photography’s role in mirroring societal phenomena, with the artists delving into various contemporary issues. Analogue and digital photography, alternative processes, videos and installations – VIEW2024 provides a fascinating look at current trends.

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.

Water

Exhibition Review: Photography

Water | Cristy Froehlich

The Link, Ginninderry, 1 McClymont Way, Strathnairn | 23 Jan – 3 Mar 2024

Canberra photographer Cristy Froehlich is so fascinated by droplets of water that she has brought them to life via her camera lens. In her exhibition, Water, Froehlich has produced images of her constructed interactions between water, light, time, colour, texture and oil.

Froehlich has a Diploma in Photo Imaging and gained photographic accreditation through the now, sadly, defunct – after 75 years – Australian Institute of Professional Photography (AIPP). She was awarded the Epson 2017 ACT AIPP Emerging Photographer of the Year. 2024 is a watershed for Froehlich as she has just resigned from her Public Service position after a 20-year career. This will allow her to commit more time to her passions – photography and nature.

I have not seen an exhibition of this artist’s work previously. Indeed, my only knowledge of Froehlich was when she critiqued entries, including mine, at a Canberra Photographic Society event in November 2023. So it was most interesting to learn about her online.

You can see this artist’s works on her own website, plus Facebook and Instagram. You can learn from her by participating in her free monthly Be Curious Photo Walks (which have their own FB page, and there is a video about on YouTube). The more I read about Froehlich, the more I saw about her clear love of nature. She is soon to conduct courses about photo editing and macro photography for Nature Art Lab.

The nineteen images, plus several large acrylic tiles, on display in this exhibition were taken with the artist seated on a chair, with a tripod and camera set up. Froehlich has written “Water was dripped, dropped, placed, pushed and squeezed. It had oil, paint, food dye and glycerine added. Water was frozen, defrosted and soaked up.”

The resultant images displayed are eye-catching, graphic, conceptual and aesthetically pleasing. I have no doubt many would be delighted to have one or more of these artworks displayed on the walls of their own homes. Solidarity is just one example of a deliciously coloured fine art print matted and displayed within a white shadow box frame.

Solidarity – 51 x 51 cm Framed artwork © Cristy Froehlich

Frozen also has a range of colours but is a very different artwork. You might spend quite some time working out for yourself what plants have been used in its creation – if you think that matters.

Frozen – 51 x 51 cm Framed artwork © Cristy Froehlich

Not all the images are coloured in the sense that we usually use the word. Whilst black is a colour, you might simply see Disparity as a monochromatic image.

Disparity – 51 x 51 cm Framed artwork © Cristy Froehlich

Some prints are on cotton rag paper. Some are high gloss metallic prints. Others are described in the artist’s exhibition sheet as being fine art prints on delicate paper. Some of the artworks are displayed in white shadow box frames. Others are framed in black. And some have “delicate floating torn edges.” All reveal that Froehlich has an artist’s eye and presents each work in the way she believes it looks best. The variety in presentation is a bonus.

As already mentioned, there also are prints mounted on acrylic tiles. The artist speaks of these works as taking on a view of water or bubbles through water. One example, Escape, presents a quite intriguing image. It is described as taking on “the view of water when looked at through water.” Of course it doesn’t matter what it is we are looking at but, sometimes, the challenges of trying to work subjects out have a habit of drawing us right in. If you had this one on display in your home, I’d expect every visitor you had would want you to tell them about it.

Escape – 10 x 10 cm Acrylic block © Cristy Froehlich

This review is also available on the Canberra Critics Circle blog here.