blackboard!

I was privileged to document Michelle Destefano VCA Contemporary Art Graduation Exhibition - “Blackboard!”

In Michelle’s words:

“Blackboard! evolved from a series of performances that used my story of being a Deaf person who has experienced a form of oppression called ‘audism’ and forced ‘oralism’. Audism is the attitude of people who want Deaf people to speak and not use sign, or who ignore Deaf people’s communication needs. This installation work is informed by ongoing issues for the Deaf community, despite Auslan being our true and most accepted language. Blackboard! discusses the ‘Tickle Talker’, an electrical-shock device forced onto me from 1988 to 1991, to ‘help me learn to ‘hear’ through shocks to my fingers. This work advocates for decolonisation of the Deaf community through increased awareness of Deaf issues around access, audism and displacement of the Deaf community.”

melbourne in motion

As part of Testing Ground’s Summer emporium Melbourne in Motion set up an indoor parkour course. Their approach to parkour is that it’s for everybody! You can’t be too young or too old, too unfit, too nervous, too anything! It’s all about finding the best way to move for you. Run by diverse people (including women, LGBTQIA+, and people of colour), diversity and inclusivity are their mantras. They value community and helping minorities have space and find confidence and believe that there's more to training than who can jump the furthest, or do the most push-ups. They are super interested in continually finding new and interesting ways to train, to be challenged, and grow as movement practitioners, but also as humans. They're passionate about making spaces for people of all kinds in movement, especially people who are otherwise marginalised or a minority.

Kel and John hosted the event and it was really fun watching it unfold. I loved the way people stood back and observed and then jumped into the flow when it felt right on their own terms lifted up by a gently supportive environment.

rupture, repattern, repair

I documented Claire Bridge’s VCA Master of Contemporary Art Graduation Exhibition - “rupture: repattern: repair”.

A description of the exhibition in her words:

“My work fuses the mythic and grotesque. I engage with practices of rupture, repatterning and repair to address concerns for voice, power and violence. Drawing on ancestral transmissions and a synthesis of my Indian-Assamese and Anglo-European heritage, I re-signify and empower the wounded, monstrous feminine through works framed by the mythologies of Medusa, Lilith, Shakti and Kali. Resisting Western tendencies to deny violence and erase scars, my work witnesses the wounded psyche and soma through visible ruptures and tactile fragmentations. Embedded within processes, objects and materials are gestures of repair to personal and collective wounds, opening ruptures of transformational potential and plasticity. In response to systemic male violence against women, repair is a vital practice of cultural resistance, continuity and future-making.”

where the water gathers

Where the Water Gathers is a series of actions that took place along the hidden creek bed of Billy Button Creek in Footscray.

Artist Deb Bain King circled each low-lying place, thanking the creek for the gift of water. In this performance-based work, Deb walked the lost BIlly Button Creek chanting words of sorrow for the damage done and thanking the creek for the gift of water. I was honoured to be the one to document this reverent act and contribute to the communication of Deb’s intentions. Deb’s walking art practice recognises our shame and thankfulness, recognises beauty, violence and destruction enacted. This land was Marin Balluk and Yallukit Willam country. Land never ceded.

signal arts

Signal Arts is a creative studio for young people aged 13-25 in Melbourne CBD. The images above are from the Signal Summer showcase 2019 and the Young Creative Lab project. Photographs by Emma Byrnes

I was invited to document the impressive summer showcase at Signal Arts. Ten days of workshops culminated in an impressive showcase with 120 young people presenting words from a variety of creative disciplines including visual art, sculpture, music, spoken word, theatre, performance and animation.
If you know any young creatives who live in or near Melbourne be sure to steer their attention towards the Signal - it’s a terrific program offering young people the opportunity to work alongside professional artists in a collaborative way, through multi-artform workshops and mentoring.
What a gift to emerging young artists and ultimately the City of Melbourne!

throwing shadows from the sun

Photographs by Emma Byrnes

In November I captured Spacecraft at work in their Rokeby studio on a botanical prints series that had been commissioned for KFive + Kinnarps’ Boyd Collection. The images accompanied an article on the project by Eugenia Lim in Garland Magazine and needed to reflect the interplay between Spacecraft’s research, handcraft, materiality and digital production - the conversation that Lim explores in depth throughout the article.

As Lim writes:

“In Spacecraft’s series of commissioned prints for KFive + Kinnarps’ Boyd Collection furniture, site, history, language, art and architecture intermingle under the guise of soft-furnishings. On face value, these textile designs are simple botanical prints that take the specificity of trees as a motif. The silhouettes of leaves, vines and flowers are assembled, repeated and mirrored onto linen.

But deeper, beyond the “upholstery” of surface, these designs speak of a skilled, curious studio who bring craft, research and experimentation to their work across commercial, artistic and architectural projects.”

The article is well worth the read and highlights the “the quiet and conscientious work of Spacecraft, engaged as it is with the elemental, the material, the botanical, the artistic, the political and the social.” 

Wonderful!

fast and fearless: the benefits of documentation

First year RMIT Interior Design students during their 2018 orientation week. Photographs by Emma Byrnes.

Photographing 130 RMIT Interior Design first-year students during their orientation week and installing their collaborative exhibition got me thinking about how much I enjoy documentation as an arm of my photographic practice.

Documenting people at work/play is a terrific way as a photographer to hone my technical skills - by working in a fast and fearless manner whilst remaining curious and responsive to what unfolds before me. And I am well aware of the benefits that documentation can bring to my clients.
Having documented events over the past year for organisations such as Queen Victoria Market, City of Melbourne’s Signal Arts, The Kimberley Foundation, The Craft Sessions’ Soul Craft Festival and RMIT Interior Design I am a firm believer that thorough documentation plays an essential role in running a successful program.
One picture won’t usually do it, but a well curated collection can really tell the story of what has unfolded. It can also assist in marketing what may otherwise be intangible or abstract ideas to a future audience. In the words of Dr Olivia Hamilton at RMIT:

“Emma has photographed many RMIT interior design student events, exhibitions and projects. These can be complex events involving over a hundred students and running for several days. Her photos document the event beautifully and thoroughly, but more importantly she is also able to capture the fleeting and subtle moments that make the event unique. She has a particular ability to capture the human experience and the relationships and interactions between the students. Her images have been invaluable in the publications and marketing material that has come from these events.”

— Dr Olivia Hamilton - School of Architecture + Urban Design RMIT University Lecturer - Interior Design First Year Co-ordinator

For individual artists/makers good documentation is the best long-term investment they can make in their art practice. It will serve as the backbone of their art archive, and the primary factor in how their entire practice is viewed long-term. Even if someone has strong work it doesn’t mean that it will be perceived that way - if the documentation isn’t strong the work will most likely be perceived as weak :-(

How you document your work determines everything from how it is reproduced in print publications to how it is seen online. In our visually savvy world it is crucial to keep this aspect in mind. Strong visual documentation could mean the difference between securing a grant or an exhibition, or being rejected and passed over for opportunities.

Artist Jen Rae of Fair Share Fare has come to appreciate the value of strong documentation:

”Working with Emma on our projects has been a game changer in how the creative works of Fair Share Fare are documented. Her ability to place herself within the artist’s lens means that she captures the moments that matter - the big picture, nuances, subtleties and aesthetics of what can be very complex projects. She listens, comprehends the scope and is always present. Her stealth modus operandi means that she can get behind the scenes and within performances without ever detracting from what is at play between subjects, performers and public participants. I value Emma’s contributions and considered approach, so much so, that I see her as an integral part of the creative team in planning and sharing the story of Fair Share Fare’s work to various audiences.”
— Jen Rae: Creative lead and director of Fair Share Fare

Often documentation is the only evidence from non-permanent work, such as performances, art installations, popup events, etc. In fact it will be the only thing that survives and can actually become the work itself! This is why it is very important to budget and plan for this essential step in your marketing plan/art process.

Past (and ongoing) artist/maker clients of mine include Katie Stackhouse, Fair Share Fare, Sarah Tomasetti, Jing Wei Bu, Angus Hamra, Martin Lee, Lee Mullen and Spacecraft Studio.

Book me in for your next event. Or view a small collection of photographs from previous documentation over at my photography website.

Em x

NB - View all of my blog posts on documentation