I'm delighted to have been asked to participate in this outdoor installation located within the grounds of Gasworks Arts Park in Port Melbourne. Join myself and other artists for the opening by Port Melbourne Mayor Louise Crawford this Saturday at 2pm.

 

"Gasworks Arts Park is opening new windows to our vibrant city from behind the photographer’s lens. 72 images featuring the buildings, beaches and bustle of the City of Port Phillip will showcase the natural and built environment of our sensational surroundings. These Perspectives of our city are shared through the images of 6 selected professional and amateur photographers."

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Artist Statement:

 

I spent a long time trying to understand what makes up the City of Port Phillip. I looked at colonial history and then further back into the deep indigenous culture that has always been here. I looked at geology and imagined the time when the bay was flat open grassland stretching south towards the horizon.

 

Walking the streets, I looked for the old towns of Sandridge & Emerald Hill, cross-checking street names against old maps. I sought out the sites of lagoons, that which once bordered Middle Park before Middle Park even had a name and slowly, I built up a picture in my mind. 

 

I thought about the rich maritime history and the thousands of ships arriving in the bay. And I pictured those travelers disembarking from their ships and stepping ashore, perhaps for the first time, and sending postcards of the local sights back home.       

 

The eight images selected are from a series of ten. Each highlights a location within the City of Port Phillip boundary. The work is a playful nod to early postcards with their engraved illustrations, skewered colors, and offset printing. They described an exciting, stylized impression of a place, both real and yet unreal.

 

In addition to the work displayed in the Gasworks Arts Park installation, these works exist as a series of framed inkjet pigment prints that includes additional location text and acknowledgement of Country.