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august 21 - september 8, 2007

depth

by Rebecca Jones

Rebecca Jones recently completed a City of Yarra artist residency Capturing Life at the Fitzroy Pool.

The resulting body of work depth investigates the lone lap swimmer. Back and forth, back and forth the swimmer drops into an alternate zone where breath and stroke merge into counted laps and calculated kilometres. Beneath the flurry of physical activity, Jones has captured still moments from the bottom of the pool. The thick water encases the vulnerable swimmer in a soundless void.

Encapsulated bodies float through gallery one, suspended in brief moments between calculations and breath. Jones’ adept use of charcoal barely contains the exposed bodies as shaded edges reach into the expanse of white paper.

Rebecca Jones completed a Batchelor of Fine Arts at the University of South Australia. She is represented in collections in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. This is her first solo exhibition at red gallery.

more images by Rebecca Jones

These are some of my favourite things...

by Mira Brkic, Lisa Piemonte,

Jane Poynter & Christine Wood

These are some of my favourite things… is a group exhibition by four women illustrating their individual progression from girl to woman. Through the use of the photographic medium each artist documents their ‘favourite things’.  

Christine Wood:  Souvenirs from foreign places, thoughtful gifts from relatives and friends: my collection of glass perfume bottles represents to me a connection to treasured people and places. 

My recollection is now hazy of exactly when/place purchased or from whom each glass object came into my possession.  Blurred and unclear images and the transparent qualities of glass are intended to illustrate to the viewer this exploration of memory and time. 

As a woman the ethereal beauty of glass especially in the form of a coloured perfume bottle is very appealing.  Glass, whilst inherently strong and resilient, also conversely has characteristics of delicateness and fragility. 

Jane Poynter:  We claim to hold our memories dear to us, yet we will often be surprised how rarely we remember the significant events and places of our childhood throughout our adult lives. I returned alone to some of the familiar places of my childhood to photograph them as they appear today. I returned not as the childhood participant I once was, but as an observer; an adult, and a photographer.

And although the places are familiar, and surprisingly little has changed over the past thirty years, my experience of them as a child remains only a memory. And although my memories of these places are always filled with family members and friends, for this project I purposefully chose to photograph these places without people; to make them places that do exist rather than the spaces in which some of the significant events of my childhood occurred.

Mira Brkic:  The 1970’s were a period of simplicity, carefree days and long hot summers and for a child, the only decision I had to make was what treat I’d buy myself with the 20 cents I’d saved from helping mum around the house. I’d spend what seemed like hours in the milk bar, looking over all my options - should I buy lollies, chocolate or ice cream? The decision was mine to make alone. Usually I’d buy lollipops or Sunny Boys because they’d last the longest, but at other times I’d blow my whole savings on a bag of mixed lollies.

Various macro lenses were used to take these images. I wanted to highlight and accentuate the essence and innocence of childhood through simplistic images of lollies and sweets.

Lisa Piemonte: Dolls are the quintessential symbols of girlhood and, for many, are symbolic of a sometimes, brief yet intense relationship in early life. My photographs explore this bond, sometimes learnt but mostly instinctive, between a girl and her doll. As a mother, I now observe my daughter play out this intricate childhood ritual and through this I recall the intensity of my own emotional connection and the seemingly endless moments spent caring, dressing, feeding, comforting, loving and living with my dolls.  

Christine Wood

Jane Poynter

Mira Brkic

Lisa Piemonte

tracking

by Martine Peters

In 2006, textile artist Martine Peters was an artist in residence at the Arthur Boyd Studio in Bundanon.  It was in this rich landscape setting that she developed her body of work tracking.

tracking is evidence of a deep relationship between the artist and the earth. Peters has drawn upon the organic shapes, rich colours and surface markings of the landscape. Surface tracks and furrowed scars are intricately woven into tactile fabrics that hang softly from the ceiling.

The slow and deliberate process of weaving cloth is akin to the meandered walkings of the artist in the Bundanon landscape. Just as the wanderer and settler shapes the landscape, the landscape is etched into the viewer. The result is a shifting cascade of cloth lifted from the surface of the earth and draped in gallery 3.

Martine Peters has traveled to New Zealand on several occasions to study under a master weaver. She has exhibited her textile work extensively in the ACT. This is her first exhibition in Melbourne.