2024 Concept to Publication

Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope

Concept to Publication | Andrea Bryant, George Kriz, Meredith Krust-McKay, Louise Maurer, Helena Romaniuk, Sari Sutton

PhotoAccess Gallery I 28 November 2024 – 21 December 2024

This exhibition is the outcome of the 2024 Concept to Publication workshop series conducted by Photo Access. After nine months of mentorship by David Hempenstall exploring the art of the photobook, the participants have created new bodies of work showcasing their unique photographic styles in books.

There is quite a variety of book types on display. Not unexpectedly, the subjects and types of images in them vary considerably. Of even greater interest though is the varied styles of books. Some are traditional and commercially printed photobooks. Others are cleverly handmade and quite fascinating to see. 

Andrea Bryant is displaying four separate books. Unleashed has just eight images of Scrivener Dam overflows during major rain events. It has a ribbon hinge accordion binding with a marbled cover. Upright has only six monochrome images in a concertina binding with flag pouches for the images. Both these books were crafted for the artist by Joy Tonkin of Bookarts Canberra.

Unleashed by Andrea Bryant – installation photo by Eunie Kim

Upright by Andrea Bryant – installation photo by Eunie Kim

Footloose is a whimsical exploration of feet and shoes. Unnamed is abstracts of our urban landscapes. The imagery in both these books challenge us to appreciate them. 

Footloose by Andrea Bryant – installation photo by Eunie Kim

George Kriz presents Holding On, Letting Go. It is a tribute to his beloved wife Marjorie who passed away at the start of 2024. This is an artwork speaking to us about letting go and saying goodbye. The artist invites viewers to contemplate the transient nature of our existence. Whilst the physical book is not entirely easy to handle and explore because of its somewhat complex structure, viewing the accompanying powerful video is a most moving experience.

Holding On, Letting Go by George Kriz – installation photo by Eunie Kim

Meredith Krust-McKay invites us to get Up Close and enjoy the beauty of birds. The images of the avian world are excellent, and the chosen types of handmade books are fine choices, in the artist’s words “conveys parallels between the structure and delicacy of the feathered subject matter and the intricacies of one book form.”

Up Close by Meredith Krust-McKay - installation photo by Eunie Kim 

Up Close by Meredith Krust-McKay - installation photo by Eunie Kim

Louise Maurer’s contribution is titled Australian Tales. It is a creative imagining of explorer Charles Sturt’s search for an inland sea. It and her Memorial series about those who attempt to cross the waters but never find land became one in the process. Her “creative revision” method of developing the images has been beautifully used.

Australian Tales by Louise Maurer - installation photo by Eunie Kim 

Australian Tales by Louise Maurer - installation photo by Eunie Kim

Helena Romaniuk is showing photobooks about rust developed from her project which involved experimenting with templates, collages and colours. There are a number of books in her series titled Colour of Rust. Each one contains images of rusted metal surfaces, weathered machinery and forgotten relics. The textures, pattens and vibrant colours are effectively used to reveal unexpected beauty.

Colour of Rust by Helena Romaniuk - installation photo by Eunie Kim

Sari Sutton was a Dark Matter artist-in-residence at Photo Access this year. Her body of work, Dark Energy, was developed during the residency. Using archival Mount Stromlo imagery and botanical materials collected on site, photogram artworks inspired by astronomy and the cosmos were made – deliberately moving or placing objects on the photosensitive paper. Here the artist shows a photobook dummy of darkroom prints (which are the same 8x10 inch dimensions as her original silver gelatin prints) in a way which allows us to touch and hold them.

Dark Energy by Sari Sutton - installation photo by Eunie Kim

This exhibition is well worth a visit. It is a credit to the six participants, and to their mentoring by David Hempenstall. This annual program has delivered worthwhile creative results.

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

2024 Concept to Exhibition

Photography Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

Concept to Exhibition I James Bolto, Kate Leddick, Fernanda Pedroso, Albert Soesastro, James Whitehead

PhotoAccess Gallery I 28 November 2024 – 21 December 2024

This exhibition is the outcome of the 2024 Concept to Exhibition workshop series conducted by Photo Access. After nine months of mentorship the participants have created new bodies of work showcasing their unique photographic styles.

James Bolto’s series of artworks explores wildlife – in particular the resilience of wildlife in the context of our expanding urban areas. Creatures have to adapt to live with us – or relocate to other habitats. The artist tells us that, in order to co-exist with us, wildlife species each have to find ways of living alongside us if they are to survive. His images provide information about various creatures which invite us to think about our co-existence with various species. This series effectively poses the question “to what extent should their challenges matter to us.” 

James Bolto - Black Mountain Colony, 2024

James Bolto, 2024 (Installation Image)

Kate Leddick’s series The Messy Journey of Motherhood, 2024 reflects on various aspects of family life, including love, parenthood, separation and chaos. The images have come from diving into her archives. The resultant series is, for her, a personal one about memories of what she considers to be a messy motherhood journey. The exhibition catalogue provides further details of how her feelings emerged as she undertook her exploration of her archives. 

In another series Silent Currents, 2024 Fernanda Pedroso has explored “the quiet sadness” of Tokyo – a city of silent currents, spaces between and spaces within: a city of crowds, of pulsing streets, and “where individuality thrives, yet human connection feels elusive.” Each of the images contributes to a most interesting overall snapshot of the busy city and reveals elements of the city that this artist has identified. This series is an excellent example of how photographers can explore specific urban areas and paint descriptions for those fortunate to see their imagery.

Fernanda Pedroso - from the series Silent Currents, 2024 

Fernanda Pedroso - from the series Silent Currents, 2024

Albert Soesastro has long been passionate about both photography and skateboarding. It makes sense therefore that he has merged those two passions and created photographs about skateboarding. These images immediately attracted my attention as I entered the gallery. They are vibrantly colourful and, together with their titles, reveal much about skateboarding to those of us who don’t have the knowledge.

Albert Soeastro - Argenis Urbina, Backside five-o-grind, Hume, 2023

Albert Soesastro - Annie Walker, Nose slide series, Canberra City, 2022

James Whitehead’s series reality : dreaming, circa 1987 – 2024 is about wondering what “the other side” was like, which side he was on, images recalling memories, everyday light, and new life taking shape. There are two distinct styles of images alternating on the walls of the gallery. Small colour prints arranged in groups are, presumably, memories. His other exhibits immediately say “artwork”. 

JAMES WHITEHEAD - from the series reality : dreaming, circa 1987 – 2024 

JAMES WHITEHEAD - from the series reality : dreaming, circa 1987 – 2024

Overall, the exhibition is well worth a visit. It is a credit to the five participants in the workshop, and to their mentoring by Alex Robinson. Once again, this annual program has delivered a worthwhile outcome.

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

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2024

Photography Review | Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2024 | Various artists

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) | 17 August – 12 October 2024

It is always difficult to review an exhibition such as this where the artworks are from numerous artists and the only connection is that they have been selected as finalists in a competition. In 2022, a piece in the magazine Inside Imaging, said the grand prize “is an impressive $15,000 cash, making the MCPP a major Australian photo contest.” In this sixth year of the prize, the cash was doubly impressive at $30,000. 

The winner of the $30,000 was Merilyn Fairskye from Newtown in Sydney. Her winning work is Focus Infinity IV (4.41am, 09 May 2024, Maralinga village), 2024 – a Solve-Glaze archival pigment print on photo rag, 100 x 150 cm. It will be acquired and join all previous MCPP winners in MRAC’s permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramic and photography.

MERILYN FAIRSKYE - Focus Infinity IV (4.14am 09 May 2024 Maralinga Village) 2024 

Fairskye’s concept statement reads “‘Focus Infinity IV' is part of my ongoing Long Life Project (https://www.longlifeproject.com). My current work looks at Australia and its looming nuclear future. On a recent visit to Maralinga, site of British nuclear tests in the 50s and 60s, I wanted to see what would be revealed if I photographed in complete darkness. My settings were f/1.4, 00:30 exposure, ISO 1600, focus ∞. Mid-exposure, I moved my camera from sky to earth.” The artist’s intentions are quite clear from that statement - and she has succeeded. The mid-exposure camera repositioning was a most effective technique to use.

Let me now comment on just a few of the other finalist works in the exhibition. Hilary Wardhaugh of Canberra is there with her work A Meditation of Death, 2024 – a digital print on archival photo rag paper 81 x 142 cm. It comprises twelve 8x10” digitised lumen prints created by first piercing an extraordinary 2000 tiny holes into black card, then using them as stencils placed over light-sensitive photo paper exposed in sunlight. The same work was also a finalist in the 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize.

HILARY WARDHAUGH - A Meditation of Death, 2024

The artist statement tells us that the conceptual foundation of the work draws inspiration from “the Maranasati meditation, a contemplative practice centred on the inevitability of death, encouraging introspection on the consequences of humanity's violence and impermanence.” Wardhaugh is inviting viewers “to contemplate the profound impact of conflict through a poignant marriage of technique and symbolism.”

For the artist, the twelve images together represent the 24,000 people killed as of 3 January 2024. Where? Do you need to ask? Gaza. This work is just one of several excellent pieces created by this artist in recent times in response to very important issues that she feels strongly about. The arts practice page on her website is well worth exploring - https://www.hwp.com.au/arts-practice.

Two other finalists in the 2024 Canberra Contemporary Photographic Prize also made the cut in this MCPP. Orlando Luminere’s work here was a different one, but it was also created with one of his “trashcams” - yes, cameras he makes from trash. Wasted View, 2024 was made using a Camera Obscura digital made from trash, filled with trash.

This artist’s images created with his diverse and marvellous trashcams are always fascinating. The artwork here is a fine example of camera obscura photography.

ORLANDO LUMINERE - Wasted View, 2024

The other artist to feature in both shows with the same artwork is Caleb Arcifa. He uses sound to augment traditional processes with the subject’s energy, resulting in a unique print that is ‘signed’ by the sonic identity. Sonant Autograph #001 (Joini), 2023 uses Joini’s rendition of ‘If I Ain’t Got You’. Unfortunately, we can’t hear the sound, nor see the artifacts from the artist’s sonic experiments that explain the process behind work.

CALEB ARCIFA - Sonant Autograph #001 (Joini), 2023

Then there is a work by Tamara Dean from Kangaroo Valley, which the adjudicators highly commended - Blowin in the wind, 2024. This critically acclaimed Australian photomedia artist’s practice extends across photography, installation and moving image. This piece very cleverly and intelligently addresses the climate change crisis impacting the whole world right now - read the artist statement here.

TAMARA DEAN - Blowin in the Wind, 2024

There are many other interesting artworks in this exhibition, including Rozalind Drummond’s Scenario where photography, sculpture, and performance intersect. And Jacob Raupach’s Various Small Fires I + II, 2024, in which several small UV prints are displayed in sculptural grid-like structures made from Victorian Blackwood. However, you need to look at all the works yourself and read their accompanying artist statements. 

ROZALIND DRUMMOND - Scenario, 2024

JACOB RAUPACH - Various Small Fires I & II, 2024

Not everyone will agree, but I consider this year’s MCPP show to be the best yet overall. All the selected finalists in the exhibition can be seen in a virtual gallery here. However, it would be a much better experience to visit the MRAC and see the finished artworks up close if you possibly can do so.

This review is also available on the author's blog here. A very slightly different version is scheduled to be published in the October 2024 issue of The Printer (an online magazine by the Print Group of the Australian Photographic Society). Once published it will be available for download here.

Poison Berries

Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope

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 author's blog here.

MONACHOPSIS

Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope

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 author's blog here.

Dark Matter 2023

Brian Rope - Photography Exhibition Review

Dark Matter 2023 | Isabella Capezio, Rowena Crowe, Odette England, Janhavi Salvi

Photo Access | 26 October to 2 December 2023

This exhibition is the outcome of the 2023 Dark Matter Artist Residency. Over nine months, these four artists have explored alternative processes in the PhotoAccess darkroom. With each artist embracing unique creative approaches, their collective works navigate identity, memory, and the resonance of place.

As I left the gallery following my viewing of the exhibition, the Director of Photo Access asked me if I had enjoyed it. My immediate response was that I needed to go home and think about it. I had made just a few notes to assist my thought process, but they were of minimal help. I had not managed to attend the opening so did not have the benefit of having heard words spoken about the show at that time. I did, thankfully, have a copy of the printed catalogue to read.

These works are most certainly varied. Each artist has explored and provided us with quite diverse art. Everything shown here is different from much of what we more usually see in exhibitions. I have no doubt that some visitors would go away asking themselves what it was all about. Others, however, would leave excited by the works they had seen, wanting to tell others about them, continue thinking about and challenging themselves to do something new if they also are artists.

Isabella Capezio is a photographer, artist and lecturer in photography whose research and artwork engages in themes of failure, queerness and landscape. We are told that here they are drawing upon collective memories and colour darkroom printing to forge connections with place.

There are a large number of hand-printed colour photographs in Capezio’s contribution. They are a homage to an iconic 1981 set of 24 images, by Ian North, of Canberra suburbs which featured infrastructure, roads, the streets, the houses, their gardens, the fences,  and other typical views of the time – all devoid of human presence. There is an interesting piece by Paul Costigan about six of those works by North at https://the-southern-cross.com/ian-north-on-canberra/.

On the opposite wall to Capezio’s works are two lengthy recordings that can be listened to through headphones. Both feature various people talking about North and his Canberra Suite. Also on display at the start of Capezio’s works is a copy of a 2-page letter from Capezio to North expressing deep gratitude for his unknowingly collaborating on the homage project.

Isabella Capezio, After North #8, 2023, c-type print, 20 x 25 cm

Janhavi Salvi is an Indian artist based in Canberra, working within the visual and media arts. In this exhibition she has juxtaposed photographs and screen prints from her life in India and Australia, giving voice to her evolving sense of identity. There is also a video projection on a screen.

A series of inkjet prints on envelopes, the type with windows that we all receive from government agencies and the like, are fascinating. The photos on the envelopes are from Salvi’s life in India. The envelopes were received when in Australia. So the end product is all about connecting memories to an evolving self-identity.

Janhavi Salvi, Do you miss home? (detail), 2023,
3x3 envelope grid, inkjet prints on envelopes, 23.5 x 12 cm

Rowena Crowe is a time-based artist whose work involves analogue processes. Here her modified 16mm hand-wound motion camera reinterprets photography, overlaying unexposed film with transparent acetate sheets allowing direct intervention onto the film and creating a space to explore.

Rowena Crowe, Prepared Camera 2, 2023, silver gelatin & RA colour prints,
installation detail, multiple dimensions

Odette England is an Anglo-Australian visual artist and writer. She combines silver gelatin prints and found objects to capture familial ties and vulnerability. Other contemporary photographers also combine assorted objects with their prints, but these are more powerful than many others I have seen. The found materials are things most of us would not even pick up, leave alone use them to block out significant parts of our images.

Odette England, I just want to be old, like a normal person,
from the series To Be Developed, To Be Continued, 2023, silver gelatin print

Odette England, from the series To Be Developed, To Be Continued, 2023, silver gelatin prints & found materials, multiple dimensions (installation image - Brian Rope)

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

Brian Rope | Photography

Resistance Relapse | Nico Krijno

Photo Access | 29 June to 12 August

Resistance Relapse is an Australian premiere of esteemed Cape Town-based, South African artist Nico Krijno whose free-flowing creative process disrupts and transforms familiar, figurative representations into the realm of mirage and illusion. 

It builds on his extensive previous performance, sculpture and photography work. Here he has deliberately distorted, indeed reconfigured, imagery to create a landscape to challenge our preconceived notions of what constitutes landscapes. Traditional landscape photographers would most likely be appalled – but that is not a bad thing as all photographers (and other artists) need to be challenged to think about what they are doing and what their works are saying if they are to grow and develop in their chosen fields.

There are just three works in this theatrical show – the artist has a theatre background. There is a wonderful piece titled Resistance Relapse comprising a grid of 45 separate 21 by 15 cm inkjet prints in five rows each of nine images. It presents as a tapestry – traditionally a form of textile art that is woven by hand on a loom, but here a design printed on paper which could well be displayed in your home in the manner of a wall hanging.

Untitled, one of the 45 images in the series Resistance Relapse, 2023 © Nico Krijno

Secondly, there is pentagonal tray on the floor filled with sand. Portions of a dozen or so inkjet prints of varying sizes poke out of the sand, whilst the rest of them are buried beneath it. This piece is titled Resistance relapse (sandpit), 2023. Gabrielle Hall-Lomax’s catalogue essay suggests we are being invited to unveil newly discovered treasures, to expose the obscured and delve deeper into the artist’s creation. Has anyone dared to do so I wonder.

The third piece is a glorious single channel portrait-oriented video Die Son, 2023. A richly yellow shiny egg yolk rolls across someone’s hands - repulsing one visitor who can’t stand raw eggs, but fascinating and holding the attention of others. Other things flicker in the background – a bonfire burning, a child swimming, tomatoes cascading. There are also glimpses of other artworks by this artist.

A small exhibition in terms of the number of pieces on show, but a large one in terms of the artist’s concept, his different approaches to each artwork, and his challenges to our pre-existing and often conventional or traditional idea about landscape. Even the exhibition title requires contemplation as we explore the artworks and read the informative catalogue. 

As Hall-Lomax says in concluding her essay “….it is a philosophical invitation to traverse a world under different principles…..It shakes up the conventional and dismantles viewers’ pre-existing ideas about the nature of photography and its possibilities.” Serious photographers of any genre would do well to let themselves be challenged in such ways.

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

Photography - You are close be-side me by Chin-Jie Melodie Liu (Canberra)

Photography Review by Brian Rope

You are close be-side me | Chin-Jie Melodie Liu

Photo Access | 29 June to 12 August

You are close be-side me by Canberra-based Taiwanese artist Chin-Jie Melodie Liu, questions traditional memorialisation practices in the digital era, drawing from her experience of virtually attending her grandfather's funeral last year.

This is a fascinating exhibition. Personal experience tells me it is hard enough to participate remotely in the funeral of an old friend whom you haven’t seen for some considerable time. Virtually attending your much-loved grandfather's funeral must be an extraordinarily emotional experience. A great deal of the emotion felt by this artist is not just shown to gallery visitors, but very much shared with each of them who take the time to look closely at the images. The exhibited prints are actually CMYK screen-prints on Stonehenge paper, not matted or framed but simply pinned to the wall.

Almost all of the works show screenshots that the artist took during the Zoomed memorial service – sadly with patchy and disconnected video when there were network issues and when guests at the service accidentally knocked the phone stand over. We see Covid-masked people at the funeral, floral tributes, musicians playing, a photographer using a camera, and a man bowing in respect. We see Melodie herself as a zoom participant. Most of the screenshots are paired with phone camera shots taken by her sister Annette An-Jen Liu who, because of pandemic restrictions, was the only grandchild able to be at the Taiwan funeral in person. Despite only Melodie’s name being on the image list in the catalogue, it is, therefore, very much a collaborative exhibition with Annette.

Looking at her sister’s phone photos, which have been described as footnotes to the screenshots, Melodie noticed they were of things she had not seen on Zoom. They were of ceremonial proceedings intended only for immediate family members – of which she, of course, was one. From that she realised she had only been “present” for a portion of the funeral and “excluded” from the parts intended for immediate family. So using Annette’s images provides additional context to the scenes she did not witness.

The titles of the artworks reveal much of the artist’s feelings. Anyone who has ever had just a little experience of Jewish or Christian worship, or read the best-known parts of the Bible, will recognise words from the much-loved Psalm 23 which uses a shepherd's care for his sheep as a metaphor to describe the wisdom, strength, and kindness of God. For many, the words serve as a reminder that God is faithful and can be trusted in life or death, good times or bad. Every exhibit title comes from one or another version of that psalm, which was sung at the funeral.

Chin-Jie Melodie Liu, You are close be-side me, 2023, CMYK screen-print on Stonehenge paper, paired with footnote image by Annette An-Jen Liu (2022, digital photograph).

Chin-Jie Melodie Liu, lead me by the quiet stream, 2023, CMYK screen-print on Stonehenge paper,  paired with footnote image by Annette An-Jen Liu (2022, digital photograph).

So, as we look at the images and read their titles, we can see and know the author’s emotions as she felt close to her grandfather and drew personal comfort from the familiar words assuring her that she (and he) had nothing to fear as they rested in green pastures beside a quiet stream. She took strength from knowing the days ahead would be filled with goodness and mercies.

Chin-Jie Melodie Liu, You have spread a feast for me, 2023, CMYK screen-print on Stonehenge paper, paired with footnote image by Annette An-Jen Liu (2022, digital photograph).

Whilst not all of the gallery visitors will have the same understanding of Psalm 23 or have had the same experience of faith as this family, each person looking at these works should, nevertheless, understand what is being shared with us. With both sisters’ images and the words of the psalm, it all hangs together most effectively.

The exhibition absolutely shows us the sisters’ shared grief and different mourning experiences, one in person at the actual event and the other via the digital access available in today’s world. In the exhibition catalogue, sister Annette says she is reminded of Susan Sontag’s description of photographs as “an invitation to sentimentality”, for the way they “turn the past into an object of tender regard”.

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