BLAZE 2025

Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope

BLAZE I Sophia Childs, Sophie Dumaresq, Gabrielle Hall-Lomax, Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan, Brennan O’Brien, Jessika Spencer

Canberra Contemporary I 8 February – 17 April 2025 

This exhibition is an emerging artists’ showcase. Now in its fifteenth iteration, BLAZE presents diverse voices at the beginnings of their art careers. It exhibits bold and thought-provoking artworks in several media. The artists were chosen based on contributions to the vitality of visual art in the ACT region and their exhibitions over the last eighteen months.

Sophia Childs is showing an assortment of delightful works for which she has sewn together irregular shaped pieces of fabric that she has painted on with acrylic. Most of the resultant works are spread out on the walls much as skins removed from a dead person’s or animal’s body might be. But these are not dead animal skins as the works are brightly multi-colourful and most fascinating to explore. Two of them are attached to recycled timber frames standing on cast plaster feet, further adding to their already substantial interest.

Installation view of work by Sophia Childs in BLAZE 2025 at Canberra Contemporary.
Photo by Brenton McGeachie

Sophie Dumaresq, whose works have been seen in a number of Canberra galleries recently is represented here with just one artwork, but it is rather special - a major mixed media performance piece with mechanical components. This anthropomorphic sculptural-performative shark is a major contribution to the artist’s self-appointed role as spokesperson for sympathy towards the Great White Shark. Those who have had an opportunity to watch whilst the artist is animating the shark would, no doubt, have thoroughly enjoyed the performance and, therefore, appreciated the piece and its message even more.

Gabrielle Hall-Lomax is showing eight framed prints, each having been made from scanned medium-format film. As displayed, they are separated into three groups by two piles of archival letters. Several images show us various immediate family members, including the artist herself, in differing and different poses. Roger’s head is obscured, posing a question as to why. Twins had me wondering whether or not the two figures were actually that or were the one person shown twice. Does the answer matter?

Gabrielle Hall-Lomax 'Roger' 2025, medium format film, scanned and printed on archival cotton rag, 60 x 60 cm. Photo by Brenton McGeachie

Gabrielle Hall-Lomax 'Twins' 2025, medium format film, scanned and printed on archival cotton rag, 60 x 60cm Photo courtesy of the artist

Each of these high-quality images is intriguing. Two of them, respectively titled Eyes and Ring, brought me to a stop as I walked around the space, forcing me to look even more closely and think longer about what they were telling me. The letter piles immediately made me want to rifle through them, closely reading and exploring their contents to discern the relationship to the prints. This is a fine storytelling body of work.

Emeirely Nucifora-Ryan is showing a set of six neon bent glass letter sculptures. They change colour (from warm red to icy argon-mercury blue) and shape as they are viewed from different positions in the gallery. A high voltage light beam dances in the complex forms. This is a further development from her previously exhibited and prize-winning glasswork. 

Brennan O’Brien’s four fastidious paintings explore softness and fluidity. They are works to stand before and enjoy as you absorb their content. His eyes, a blue million miles, painted with acrylic on primed plywood, is particularly surreal, a powerful study to stand before, look closely into, and simply enjoy.

Brennan O'Brien, 'His eyes, a blue million miles' 2024, oil on acrylic primed plywood,160 x 120cm. Photo courtesy of the artist

Wiradjuri woman Jessika Spencer has two works. One is constructed from natural and studio dyed raffia, hair, fishing line and a timber frame; the other from kangaroo bones, raffia and coolamon assemblage. Together they are a wonderful reimagining of country, “a utopia free of the effects of colonisation, capitalism and patriarchy.”

Visitors to this excellent show should read the detailed information about each artist’s works in the room sheet as they move around the gallery exploring and enjoying every exhibited piece.

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

… Is somebody gonna match my freak?

Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope

… Is somebody gonna match my freak? I Sophie Dumaresq & Asil Habara

M16Artspace, Gallery 1 | 24 January – 16 February 2025

…Is somebody gonna match my freak? is an exhibition by two multidisciplinary artists Asil Habara and Sophie Dumaresq. They were the 2024 recipients of the M16 Artspace ANU Emerging Artists Support Scheme residencies.

The exhibition’s title is taken from the lyrics of Nasty - a 2024 pop song by an American singer and songwriter Tinashe which went viral. “Match my freak” means finding someone who matches your weirdness and enjoys the same niche interests as you. Are we all a bit freaky? Is it a good feeling to find someone whose energy precisely matches yours? That was the philosophy behind this surging new bit of internet culture slang that also became a Trending TikTok sound.

The show is a tongue-in-check reference to the two artists shared sense of humour and interest in online popular culture, shit posting and the very real-life currents behind driving viral trends. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, shitposts on social media are of little to no sincere insightful substance. They may well be posted, as their sole purpose, to confuse, provoke or entertain. They are not specifically designed to evoke reactions.

Addressing topics ranging from the religious, to a popular reality dating television show “Love Island” and online consumer influencer culture, Asil Habara invites audiences to reflect on the profound intersections of culture and technology. This artist’s works in this exhibition are visually arresting and have amazing titles. Some are digital prints on satin cloth or on poly fil. Others are screenprints on paper or linen. The vibrancy of their colours is astoundingly powerful. Visitors may well find themselves simply feeling immersed in them. The artist is seeking to engage, to question and to be part of a larger dialogue shaping the cultural landscape. There are also some other types of works – found heels covered with colourful “saucy” images on collaged paper, and a found hat similarly improved via decoration.

bom cha cha cha cha, 2024. Digital print on satin cloth – Asil Habara
a new bombshell has entered the villa, 2024. Digital print on satin cloth – Asil Habara

Community is being in the third space with five hinge matches, at least two people who have seen your hole, ex housemates that went horrible, ex housemates that went well, a subleter who u rejected, friends with mutual distancing, three people that are currently in your dms, a secret crush or two, people who pretend not to know you from Instagram, randomly someone you went to primary school with, a guy with allegations but people for some reason are still friends with him, a string of lesbians who have all seen each other, a string of gays who have all seen each other, everyone being a dj while being all burnt out and everyone talking about moving to melbourne, sydney or berlin, 2025.Satin cloth, wood – Asil Habara

Crucifixion, 2025. Recycled timber, paper.
Asil Habara and Conor Ward

u know my swag not my story (i), (ii) & (iii), 2025
Screenprints on linen – Asil Habara

Valley girls giving blowjobs for Louboutins What you call that? Head over heels, 2025.
Found heels, collaged paper - Asil Habara

Sophie Dumaresq’s artworks feature her trademark pinks. As we have come to expect, she has used hand dyed and felted human hair. Other different elements in the artworks include rabbit and red fox skulls. The catalogue also reveals her use of plywood, a car hood, oil paint, hair spray, invisible blood and spit and UV reactive ink. She has provided UV torches to point at photos enabling us to see the otherwise invisible additions to their surfaces.

The titles of Dumaresq’s works are equally fascinating – “Like that one sex scene in Mulholland Drive” and “Manic Pixie Dream Rabbit Feet #1” are just two examples. Interestingly, in a new review of Mulholland Drive following the death of Director David Lynch, the reviewer Steve Palaski wrote “isn’t the kind of film that can be adequately explained, but I’ll give it a whirl.” If particular titles don’t move you and evoke feelings of familiarity within you, search for them on the Web and you should quickly identify clues as to why Dumaresq has used them. If you find yourself having trouble explaining to yourself, or to your friends, what this exhibition is all about, don’t be afraid, do the hard yards and give it a whirl. You’ll soon be showing your friends how vast your computer knowledge is!

Sophie Dumaresq - At it like f$$$ingrabbits (come find me hunny bunny), 2024.

Sophie Dumaresq - You can be my full time, baby, hot or cold, 2024.

Sophie Dumaresq, Like that one sex scene in Mulholland drive, 2024.

Together these two artists invite us to question the currents that shape our own material reality and cultural landscape, both online and IRL - come on, you must know it means In Real Life and is used to differentiate between online and offline worlds!

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

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. 

 

VIEW 2024

Photography Exhibition Review | Brian Rope

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 author's blog here.