CASTLE IN DARKNESS
DARK GARDEN
PASSAGE
TEMPLE
DOORWAYS
CASTLE IN DARKNESS
DARK GARDEN
PASSAGE
TEMPLE
DOORWAYS
MUTINY
BOAT WRECK’D
ABUNDANCE
FLOTSAM
TREASURES
This series is my photographic interpretation of the Penitentiary Chapel Historic Site in Hobart. I have attempted to elicit the chilling experience of life in this place through composite images indicative of a progression from factual representational to emotive expression.
The Light. This composite consists of a tunnel entrance to a cramped inner cell known as ‘the dust hole’ and part of the chapel window. Through this window prisoners were reminded of life beyond the gaol, freedom gained by turning to God and away from wickedness.
Deadlock. The old chapel lock layered with detritus of a rusty old gate builds this image, evoking vivid memories of cruelty, hardship tolerated by religion.
Other pieces in the Series:
Last Glimpse. This gallows door may have been the last sight of the condemned prisoner before the hood was placed over his head. The peephole of the image encompasses a window from the Port Arthur Penal Settlement that existed contemporaneously with the Chapel Site for 47 years.
Trapped. The gallows trapdoor through which 207 people dropped has an ethereal badge of the convict’s trade upon it.
Sarah Island Traces. The Sarah Island Penal Settlement was closely associated with the Penitentiary. The window catches weak rays of sunlight at certain times in the afternoon backing on to the gallows building. Within this light one might capture a brief glance of the Sarah Island Bay where convicts, under very harsh conditions, constructed many ships for the mother country, England.
Notation. The symbolic representation of this image refers to the authenticity of a prison society in the mid 1800’s, while the shadowy presence of the bathtub reminds us of the strict adherence to ‘cleanliness’ and the Sunday morning bath one inmate following the next, sloshed down with a bucked of cold water from the same tub.
Resilience encapsulates the stoic nature of those who survived their sentence and gained their certificate of freedom. The vivid colour of shadow and the clarity of the crumbling walls dramatically bathed in sunlight portray the energy and determination of those who could not be broken. The web manifests the continuance of life.
THE LIGHT
DEADLOCK
LAST GLIMPSE
.
TRAPPED
SARAH ISLAND TRACES
NOTATION
RESILIENCE
APRICOT SILK TAFFETA DRESS FRONT
APRICOT SILK TAFFETA DRESS BACK
CHENILLE DRESS FRONT
CHENILLE DRESS BACK
CREAM SILK BROCADE BODICE FRONT
CREAM SILK BROCADE BODICE BACK
LACE AND SILK WITH GROSGRAIN RIBBON FRONT
LACE AND SILK WITH GROSGRAIN RIBBON BACK
MAUVE SILK TAFFETA BODICE FRONT
MAUVE SILK TAFFETA BODICE BACK
PINAFORE FRONT
PINAFORE BACK
SAILOR TOP FRONT
SAILOR TOP BACK
SOFT COFFEE COTTON DRESS FRONT
SOFT COFFEE COTTON DRESS BACK
I use photographic images from my travels and print them using the traditional C-type based process. I then select and transform their formal pictorial elements, such as shadows and architectural lines, into a symmetrical mosaic of abstracted patterns.
The ensuing digital composites retain their individual photographic character while generating a complex and puzzling effect of an abstract image, producing an optical illusion for the viewers.
Printed on a matt surface of Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Paper, the results are images which visually and aesthetically oscillate between a photographically based print, a drawing or a lithograph. The prints are mounted on aluminum and backed with a wooden frame.
As a matter of interest ‘Enscribed Tablet’ resides at the University Club of Western Australia and ‘Beguiled by the Curve’, ‘Marco Polo Blush’ and ‘Motif in Marble’ were purchased by the Curtin Student Guild, Curtin University, Western Australia.
The images in this post are alphabetically listed and are mostly composites of 118.9 x 84.1cms, with two smaller images (‘Windmills’ and ‘Marco Polo Blush’), which measure 59.4 x 42 cms.
‘Rhodes Byway’ 1 & 2, and ‘Street of the Knights’ are also printed on Hahnemuehle Photo Rag Paper, measure 50 x 50 cms and are classically framed without glass.
BEGUILED BY THE CURVE
DELPHIMESH
ENSCRIBED TABLET
KNIGHTS CROSS
MARBLE COLUMN
MARCO POLO BLUSH
MOAT CROSSING
MOTIF IN MARBLE
ORIENTAL BRIDGE
RHODES BYWAY 1
RHODES BYWAY 2
STONED FRUIT
STREET OF THE KNIGHTS
TOWERS OF SUNSHINE
WINDMILLS
DRUNKEN ADMIRAL REFLECTING
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
HIDDEN CAVE
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
MOLLUSC BLOOM
(archival digital print)
OF SEA AND SHORE
(archival digital print)
REMEMBRANCE
(archival digital print)
RIVERVIEW
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)
(archival digital print)