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26 March – 26 April 2015 Framed | Laura Moore Sydney-‐based emerging artist Laura Moore presents Framed, a series of images questioning the dynamics of the portrait photograph, and the normally submerged politics of representation inherent in the photographic image. To look at the works in Framed is both to witness a confrontation and to be involved in one. Pressed up against the picture plane, her subjects appear slightly contorted. Flesh flattens in odd, irregular places and the body is made literally to confront its transformation into a flat surface: that of the photograph. Moore reveals this process to be almost surreal. None of her subjects look directly at the viewer, but it is clear that they are on display, almost like mannequins in a shop window. The subjects Moore has chosen are all artists themselves, temporarily and deliberately assuming the role of the portrait subject. Any markers of identity or agency are strangely absent as Moore makes these subjects (including herself) into images. As viewers, we become aware of the potency of our own gaze, as unnamed portrait subjects appear both to present themselves to us, and protect themselves from us. We become aware of the specific violence of the gaze: its presence and its power. Frame #1, 2014, face mounted pigment print, 60.0 x 40.0cm Supported by the ACT and Commonwealth Governments
Manuka Arts Centre is an ACT Government arts facility
Frame #9, 2014, face mounted pigment print, 90.0 x 60.0cm Artist Statement | Laura Moore Framed examines the nature of photography itself, experimenting with the capacity of the photographic portrait to represent complex meanings about identity. I built glass cubicles in varying sizes then asked artists to become subjects themselves. Presenting the glass cubicle as the physical incarnation of the final image, I asked the subjects to pose nude inside the cubicle. The constructed space of the glass cubicles represented what the final image would be while exposing the normally hidden exploitative element in the relationship between artist and subject. The final image is the life-‐size print of that constructed space, holding and confining the exposed subject. Through printing the portraits life-‐size, the viewer is confronted with a life-‐size body easily relatable and comparable to their own. Exaggerating the constructed and exploitative capacity of the photographic portrait, this work asks us to recognise the voyeuristic desires and scrutinizing gaze that the photographic portrait invites. Frame #3, 2014, face mounted pigment print, 60.0 x 75.0cm About the artist Laura Moore is an emerging artist and regular exhibitor based in Sydney. She is a recent graduate of Sydney College of the Arts. In 2012, her work Hereinbefore was the winner of the Macquarie Digital Portraiture Award at the National Portrait Gallery. Moore's work has featured in a number of award exhibitions including The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize, Sydney Life Exhibition and Prize, Art and About Sydney Festival as well as the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award. In 2013, Moore's work was shown on Perth Cultural Centre Screen and she presented a featured exhibition as part of the Head On Photo Festival in Sydney. Last year, Moore exhibited in SafARI, and was included in the exhibition Form and Substance, curated by Alex Seton at Jan Murphy Gallery in Brisbane. Her work was also shown at the 2014 PICA Salon. Most recently, Moore presented a solo exhibition at Firstdraft Gallery in Sydney. HUW DAVIES GALLERY at PhotoAccess, Manuka Arts Centre, Corner Manuka Circle and NSW Crescent Griffith ACT
TEL. 02 6295 7810 WWW.PHOTOACCESS.ORG.AU
Frame #7, 2014, face mounted pigment print, 80.0 x 80.0cm List of works Price Clockwise from left All works are face mounted pigment prints, edition of 3 and 1 Artist Print 1. Frame #7, 2014, 80.0 x 80.0cm $2250 2. Frame #1, 2014, 60.0 x 40.0cm $1900 3. Frame #2, 2014, 60.0 x 90.0cm $2200 4. Frame #3, 2014, 60.0 x 75.0cm $2100 5. Frame #4, 2014, 60.0 x 60.0cm $2000 6. Frame #14, 2014, 135.0 x 90.0cm $2750 7. Frame #9, 2014, 90.0 x 60.0cm $2200 8. Frame #10, 2014, 90.0 x 90.0cm $2350 Further works are available to view online at lauramoore.com.au. Contact PhotoAccess for sales of any of the works in the Framed series HUW DAVIES GALLERY at PhotoAccess, Manuka Arts Centre, Corner Manuka Circle and NSW Crescent Griffith ACT
TEL. 02 6295 7810 WWW.PHOTOACCESS.ORG.AU
Frame #4, 2014, face mounted pigment print, 60.0 x 60.0cm Public program | Saturday 28 March at 2pm Join Laura Moore and co-‐exhibitors Louise Baker and Yiorgo Yiannopoulos for floor talks in the gallery. HUW DAVIES GALLERY at PhotoAccess, Manuka Arts Centre, Corner Manuka Circle and NSW Crescent Griffith ACT
TEL. 02 6295 7810 WWW.PHOTOACCESS.ORG.AU