4 minute read
ARTF2054 Drawing, Painting & Print Studio
ARTF2054 Drawing, Painting & Print Studio Unit Coordinator: Andy Quilty Teaching Staff: Andy Quilty and Jo Darvall
KAREN GREEN
This artwork expresses the desire of people working away from home to feel connected to family. My personal experiences of living with a FIFO worker and desire to use materials from each of our environments to build a connection, led to the creation of two sets of postcards. In Minesite postcards, a series of drawings utilising material found at the minesite workshop combined with remarks written on the reverse, offer a visual and meaningful insight to daily life working away. Naked Print postcards are a set of prints created through the process of using a personal blend of essential oils smeared onto naked skin and pressed to paper. A combination of painting and erasure of gouache was then used to reveal the invisible oil print. These are intended to be a visual and sensorial link to the comforts of home.
Image: Karen Green. FIFO - connected whilst disconnected. 2021. Engine oil, power steering fluid, dirt, molley grease, lithium grease, lavender oil, rose geranium oil and gouache on watercolour paper. 10.5 x 15 cm.
AGATHA OKON
‘Bad Sector’
Photos are intended to immortalise a moment and succeed where memory can fail, but they are simply not a suitable substitute. They are a physical reminder of memories, not a representation. As it becomes easier to photograph and document our lives, the authority and credibility of photos as objective must be questioned. This work involves extensive manipulation of both digital and analogue photographs, however the original material was already manipulated by the photographer through decisions made regarding composition, subject and significance. Photographs are typically only taken when the photographer sees something they believe is important or joyful, so can give a false impression of the past if care is not taken. In collaboration with the replicant technology of the modern printer, an attempt is made to return to the truth. The context of these photos has been long forgotten, and so has the individual in these photos, who is supposedly me. Some photos include people I haven’t talked to in many years, who likely are also completely different now. My memories are of individuals that do not quite exist anymore.
The backs of photo paper are almost never intended to be looked at, likewise the memories of the moments surrounding the photograph are overpowered by the captured instance. Printing onto photo backs allows for a more accurate physical representation of how memories appear when they are attempted to be recalled, and like those same memories, the photo backs are more fragile than those captured properly. Over time, they will diffuse until they become incomprehensible. We fear the degradation of memory, as a result we try to force something so subjective and transient into an objective format in an act of futility, rather than enjoying them while we still can.
Image: Agatha Okon. Untitled. 2021. Glossy photo paper, paper, masking tape, packing tape, printer ink. 10 x 15 cm (each).
KITA HEALY
Often, we reach to photo albums as a happy reminder of the past. These collections of memories are represented through sweet encapsulations of moments. I wanted to contrast this notion, juxtaposing facial emotions that are stereotypically displayed. I was drawn to this idea by the images I have seen all my life, and how quite humorously, my sister was never theatrical in front of a camera. Gary, my sister’s dad, passed away when she was aged 3, meaning there was a torn nature between who she was before, and after the tragedy we all experienced. There has always been a bittersweetness when looking at photo albums that show the normalcy before the loss, the selection of contrasting references replicates the challenging nature and connotations that I have with this time.
It was fascinating to realise that we all have underlying models we build and apply to our expectations, how this interplays into the most candid and unfiltered time of our lives, where baby’s emotions are completely parallel one second to another, but only one is stereotypically put on a pedestal, painted and photographed.
Image: Kita Healy. Smile (detail). 2021. Oil on board. 30.3 x 24 cm.
