I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land. And pay my respect to its elders past and present.
Thank you everyone for coming today. I would like to thank Brimbank council and their arts staff Lisa & Micheal. All their excellent support and help throughout the entire process makes these things a breeze. I would also like to thank all the Students who keep me fresh and on my toes and as always my accomplice in crime my wife.
Putting together this show I discovered a strange fact. This is the first solo exhibition I have had of silver gelatine prints since 1996. Even I balked at that date! I began exhibiting over 30 years ago and still feel as nervous speaking about my work even after all this time.
I would like, if I may then, begin then by quoting one of main inspirations; Robert Adams.
“Nothing diminishes the affirmation of the sun.”
Most of my work attempts to have this philosophy underpinning it. I am a fortunate as a creative to have never had a client so all my work is driven by my own impulses and desires. This has afforded me the privilege of making pictures of what I please when I please. We never operate in a vacuum however. My sources inspirations and motivations are as wide as they are deep. Ezra Pounds’ classic poem Wastelands often runs though my mind when researching locations. How fortuitous that this show opens at the end of April, the cruellest month according to Pound in his poem. In my early days my subject matter was also inspired by the Beats. Their celebration of modern cities and street life. Ideas of the dark alleys and neglected corners of all cities and suburbs that we may avoid. Passing them engrossed in our own thoughts. Unable or unwilling to pay attention to our surroundings. Other inspirations are Robert Adams’ photographs as well his prose. Richard Misrach's politicised Desert Cantos series, is beautiful and yet heart breaking.
One of the aims of my work is to invite the viewer to see beyond the ugliness in the subject matter as presented. I use subtle compositions and careful printing of the images to address this. I love a long tonal scale and complex compositions. These weave together with line and form. Leading the viewer to attempt to look beyond subject matter of the prints themselves.
All the prints are made using hardware and software that accentuates tonal scale. I spend an inordinate amount of time in camera to making the pictures. Depending on lighting and weather conditions minutes of hours. A print itself can take between a day and a month to resolve. The work is then pinned up in my studio darkroom as I build upon it. I take my time rearranging the work and even add subtract or reprint as I see fit. For this exhibition this process began in October last year. The final edit began in March. The prints spread out in my studio as I contemplated their final sequence.
I make my own film and paper developers and use these tools to make the best possible print I can. Currently I make far more negatives than I have time to print. This has resulted in an archive. When I first started making photographic art I never intended to create such a thing. This archive now underpins and on occasion drives forward a part of what I do. The western and northern suburbs are changing dramatically. The act of capturing this has attained a sense of urgency now.
As I was schooled in the modernist idea of the fine print. I decided on a film and film developer combination many years ago. And have continued to use this combination to this day. I chose the two for fine grain and long tonal scales. Occasionally, I draw on other paper developers. These can be an intuitive or technical choice. I generally use a technique called split filter printing. This technique uses two variable contrast filters to determine exposures. This technique allows for very subtle manipulation of the prints. And I hope beg the viewer to look a little harder and longer at the image in front of them.
Living here since 2000 has made my image making process more time efficient. My archive continues to grow as a consequence. Having only to often throw a camera or two in my car then drive off for 15 minutes or so an begin making pictures. I feel like I have truly found my place.
Currently this body of work is an open ended project. It began by me walking in places, for their strangeness. Not to mention uniqueness, and incongruity.
Let me finish by quoting another idea. From, William Carlos Williams.
“It is difficult to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack of what is found there,”
I hope you find some poetry or some news in my work; or whatever it is you’re looking for.
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