Re-Generations
Photo Access.
Was scheduled to run until 4 April, but the gallery had to be closed because of the imposed COVID-19 restrictions. Photo Access has now created an online version of the exhibition which can be seen at http://www.gallery.photoaccess.org.au/re-generations until 16 May 2020.
Reviewed by Brian Rope
Loud & Luminous is an
annual celebration of Australian women photographers. It includes a symposium, this
exhibition, the launch of the Loud & Luminous book for 2020 and artist
talks.
Re-Generations, curated
by
Canberra’s Hilary Wardhaugh, features five contemporary
female artist photographers. It is about
experiences of personal growth and change. It exposes inherited trauma, family relationships
and the stories to be learned from inter-generational memories. It reveals some
subtle shades of meaning relating to the possibilities of female lives today.
Addressing issues relating to women’s
opportunities for personal growth and to the traumas associated with domestic
violence through quality photographic art adds greatly to the messages to which
we all must respond. Like many women before them, these photographers have recognised
a deep responsibility to influence the conversation and make impact. All of us,
but particularly men, must take note.
Helga Salwe tells us that time spent in the
mountains and deserts of Morocco during a period of radical change in her
personal life allowed her painful feelings to emerge and heal. We are blessed
to be able to view her fine monochrome prints and reflect on how we might have
felt in the same place with similar feelings. Her image Sandstorm
particularly speaks to me, telling about a person’s life in this desert place.
Equally, Home of the Earth is remarkable for how the depicted home
seemingly merges into the earth around it.
Helga Salwe, Sandstorm, 2019,
archival pigment ink on portfolio rag, 30x 42cm
Tamara Whyte, an indigenous artist from far
North Queensland, has contributed three short documentary video works,
extending her photographic and video practice. They focus on the survival of
Aboriginal people; their resilience and resistance whilst adapting to change. Buffalo
Horns with its insistent but gentle tap, tap, tap sound is at once both
mesmerising and educational.
Tamara Whyte, Bonescape, 2020,
single channel digital video, 16.5 seconds
Suellen Cook describes herself as “a
photographer of the imagination” who likes “to tell stories through images that
mysteriously bubble into my consciousness”. Her stunning conceptual images shown
here reveal emotions she has experienced during her life journey, when
adversity or life-changing events have initially knocked her down. Reading the
words accompanying each print we can follow how Cook responded, rose from the
ashes and made her choices to become more resilient and stronger. Whilst the
set of powerful prints together tells a fuller story, each large print
successfully stands on its own.
Suellen Cook, THE PHOENIX, 2020,
photographic inkjet print, 75 x 75cm
Elise Searson, who works as a photojournalist
in Batemans Bay, also draws on her personal narrative, sharing with us some of
her own intense experience of motherhood. In the exhibition catalogue, she
tells us that becoming a mother makes one imagine their past and, especially,
how we all begin life; and that it can trigger questions because of
generational trauma. The words written directly on the gallery wall to
accompany her image After Innocence made me smile as well as think.
Elise Searson, Mother One, 2020,
multimedia digital scan and inkjet print, 61cm x 91cm
Tricia King’s contribution explores the
importance of memories as a place where identity and meaning can be
rediscovered and shared. Each piece is a pair of closely associated portraits
of an older woman living in aged care facilities, with the two images used to
offset one another. On the left of each is an early portrait of the woman, on
the right a new portrait. Having myself created a memory book of words and
family images when my mother went into aged care, these works reminded me again
how photographs enable an older person to share memories with others,
particularly younger family. King’s juxtapositions of the now and then in these
women’s lives are fabulous. The story of Margerie is especially well
portrayed.
Tricia King, The Photographs of Home;
Margerie, 2019,
photographic inkjet print, 80 x 40cm
This excellent exhibition is a credit to all
involved.
