Punk, Romantic

Visual Art | Brian Rope

Punk, Romantic | Sophie Dumaresq

CCAS Manuka | 6– 15 December 2024 (11am–5pm, Friday-Sunday)

Punk, Romantic is the debut solo exhibition by Sophie Dumaresq, a recent graduate of the ANU School of Art + Design (SoA+D). She was selected for the prestigious Hatched: National Graduate Show 2024 at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, is participating in Next Wave’s 2024/25 Kickstart residency program, and is the 2024 artist-in-residence at Canberra Contemporary Art Space, having received the 2023 CCAS ANU SoA+D Emerging Artists Support Scheme Mentorship and Exhibition Award. 

I first became aware of Dumaresq in March 2020 when I saw her work The Hairy Panic, a significant part of a broader exhibition at the Nishi Gallery, for which she received an ACT Arts Award. Sadly, that exhibition was taken down early because of COVID-19. Her artworks in it featured tumbleweeds she hand-made from chemically processed and hand-dyed human hair and painted pink steel. One work was later a finalist in the Mullins Australian Conceptual Photography Prize, another a finalist in the Goulburn Art Prize. 

Fast forward to 2024. At the beginning of this year View 2024, Photo Access’s annual showcase of emerging photo-media artists from the ACT and surrounding regions, included three Dumaresq artworks – a digital print & mixed media piece, a digital video and an installation comprising a digital video, an expanse of fluffy pink carpet, cow pillows and a beanbag. 

Now, at the close of this year, Dumaresq has her debut solo show. Dumaresq has created a structure in which a divided cow’s skull with a jaw cast of recycled ocean plastics is connected mechanically to a unicycle generating chewing actions as she pedals it whilst attempting to stay balanced. She sees it as a robot which uses her brain as its microprocessor.

Dumaresq was mentored by performance artist Stelarc in 2023 as part of the Creative Australia and Creative New Zealand Digital Leadership fellowship. An essay by Stelarc accompanying the room sheet tells us The multimedia, interdisciplinary and performative projects of Sophie Dumaresq are about a personal sensibility that combines the human, the animal and the machinic in permutations and combinations that are uncanny and surreal. Simultaneously conceptually driven, embodied and performed, but also with an awareness of the potency of the documented image. Her projects and performances are heroic acts in that she is audacious and undaunted in realising her ideas. And in her ecological awareness and inclusion of the animal, there is a more astute understanding of the ecological systems of both the natural and the technological.

The structure, CowPunk, takes centre stage in the exhibition space, securely held in place. Visitors can examine it close up and explore the diverse elements from which it is constructed. Another exhibit is a looped GIF – if that meme term is unfamiliar you can read about it here. And on the walls of the gallery are remote shutter-controlled artist self-portraits, in which she is balancing on the seat. Sometimes a friend is standing alongside holding the robot.

The location for the images is a rock ledge adjacent to the ocean – chosen because it is a place of wonderful childhood memory, a place where her dad took her as a baby in his arms, and of which she has photos. The first attempt to create the images proved difficult because of the strength of the wind at the time, so Dumaresq and her friend returned very early the next morning and were rewarded with a beautiful sky featuring, again, pink.

The Punk Rock Idle, Attempt Two, Yuin Country, Australia, untitled #4, Punk Romantic, 2024 

The Punk Rock Idle, Attempt Two, Yuin Country, Australia, untitled #2, Punk Romantic, 2024 Remote shutter-controlled artist self-portrait 

Behind-the-scenes self-portrait with Emma Rani Hodges, Punk, Romantic, 2024

I expect we will see more of CowPunk as the artist seeks to further realise what she wants to achieve using it.

This review is also available on the author's blog here. 

 

EVEN WHEN I’M SLEEPING

Photography | Brian Rope

EVEN WHEN I’M SLEEPING | EMMA DOWDEN

CCAS Manuka | 20 Oct 2022 - 30 Oct 2022

If the exhibitor is not a photographer, but the accompanying text is by someone else who is, what’s the story here? Well, the explanation is what this exhibition is about - and it is an intriguing story. 

Emma Dowden and Esther Carlin became good friends at university when Dowden was studying sculpture. After graduating they each went their separate ways, to separate cities, but remained friends and in contact via Zoom.

During those fabulous lockdown days, they commenced a project which led to this exhibition. Dowden’s friend taught her about photography as they connected with each other on screens. Conversation and friendship created Even When I’m Sleeping - just six photographic prints but accompanied by a delightful audio track that can be listened to through provided headphones or, better still, on your smart phone as you stand before each image. The audio can also be listened to again later as you contemplate the story you have seen and heard.

The text by Carlin is excellent and is best read whilst visiting the show - and reread later. Just pick up a copy on the gallery counter. Let me share just some snippets here.

Emma holds up the camera to the screen. Prints curling on the wall behind her. There’s a video of the birds on my desktop, the baby falcons before they have learnt to fly.

I am teaching her how to use a camera. Our lessons take place on Sunday afternoons on Zoom. In the beginning Emma professes to hate photography…..she is interested…..how it feels to take a photograph. I think ahh. We are getting somewhere.

I set exercises: tone, texture, colour, light, form. I think I don’t know much about photography, but I do. First love…..The exercises are a structure for looking. Emma is uncertain and that uncertainty is there in the images.

The photographs depict Dowden’s immediate environment, taken over a period of five weeks during lockdown. They are observations of the house she spent lockdown in, things that drew her attention on walks around the neighbourhood and self-portraits. The photographs are arranged in five groups, corresponding to the weeks of the project, so presenting a loose chronology. The text and audio annotate the images.

The audio reflects on Dowden’s relationship to the photographs and their subjects, and her explorations in photography during lockdown. Two other people come into the gallery whilst we are speaking. Sadly, they only look at the photographic prints. They do not listen to the audio, nor do they pick up copies of the text to read. They miss key elements of the exhibition.

 

Emma Dowden – Tree, 2021-2022

Emma Dowden – Duck, 2021-2022

(The back story is on the audio track at 0.52 min)

Living at her parents’ house, Dowden begins to see the familiar surroundings in new ways. She sees her father sitting on the edge of his bed looking at his phone. She turns the lights off in her room and dad is in the frame of his bedroom door. The light on his bedside table illuminates him. It also spills out into the hallway revealing some colours and textures. He remains engrossed in what he is looking at whilst his daughter looks and sees and captures the moment.

Emma Dowden – Hallway, 2021-2022

(The back story is on the audio track at 1.14 min)

Dowden was indeed fortunate to have a good friend teach her some of the key things about photography – particularly about the importance of looking. Looking and seeing tones and textures, colours and light and form.

Dowden told me she still does not think of herself as a photographer but confessed that she probably will do more photography in the future. I hope so. I hope we have the opportunity to see and hear something of that journey in the future.

This review was first published by The Canberra Times here. It is also available on the author's blog here.