GradFoto 2023 Gallery

Highly Commended – Eddie James

Sedimentary Equilibrium, 2023

Virginia Woods-Jack said, ‘It is exciting to see cross-disciplinary endeavours executed so well. You are challenging viewers’ perceptions of the photographic medium whilst asking them to reflect on their role as stewards of the planet in a resolved manner. Congratulations, and I look forward to following along with your practice.’

Sedimentary Equilibrium delves into the intricate relationship between humanity and the environment, particularly through the exploration of quarrying and mining. The project employs diverse mediums—large format photography, Polaroid, installation, and performance—to unravel the emotional and metaphysical impacts of excavated spaces. It seeks to expose the simultaneous exploitation and sustenance derived from the Earth, challenging viewers to reflect on resource-taking and recognise the interconnectedness of human welfare and planetary health.

This cross-disciplinary endeavour aims for an immersive experience, moving beyond surface observations to offer a more personal understanding of the consequences of human actions. By examining quarries and mining sites in Tasmania, the project contextualises the global impact of excavation on landscapes, cities, and the human psyche. Through installation, Sedimentary Equilibrium aims to convey themes of connection and disconnection, crafting a narrative that brings the impact of human interactions with these spaces to life.

The project’s significance lies in its potential to stimulate critical reflections on our role as stewards of the planet. Sedimentary Equilibrium challenges viewers to explore the voids created by extraction, encouraging a dialogue that extends beyond the exhibition space. Ultimately, it invites contemplation of the unseen, sensed, and felt aspects of our relationship with the Earth, urging us to summon the equilibrium necessary for a conscious understanding of our interdependence.

Highly Commended – Jade Jones

Braided Communities, 2023

Virginia Woods-Jack said, ‘This body of work beautifully highlights the tenderness and care of ritual and its importance in affirming cultural identities. The observations are considered and participatory; you have afforded us a view from the inside instead of looking in from the outside. Congratulations, and I look forward to seeing more of your work.’

The rituals, traditions, and care of black hair within our community create a safe space for BPOC in Naarm, Melbourne. Our hair is versatile and transformative, it carries memories and stories that we create space for sharing and connecting with each other. These spaces reaffirm our identities and allow us to celebrate our diverse cultures through these hair practices. Spaces that are founded on the black experience create community. The video reflects on the importance and meaning of hair care for members of the widespread community.

This collaboration with my community allows a space to explore the complexities of our hair through the imagery, showing the processes and interactions we have with one another. It reflects on the bonds built from sitting through hours of tedious hair braiding and sounds of the conversations that reinforce friendship and bonds with one another. There is tenderness and care that go into these acts of hair care that go beyond the practice itself, re-affirming our identities and sense of self in these safe spaces. This project aims to intimately explore the importance that these practices have on our community as a whole.

Billy Hemmingson

A Subtle Thief of Youth, 2023

A Subtle Thief of Youth saw me return to Bunbury, a town I had left nine years prior. The project explores coming of age, small town dynamics, youth migration, and identity formation within the coastal town of Bunbury, Western Australia. The series consists of portraiture and environmental photographs, however, these merely act as windows to the stories from my time spent here as a teenager and the ones I encountered on my return. The title A Subtle Thief of Youth lends itself to how disenfranchised youth in regional Australian towns are grappling with limited opportunities for education, employment and housing. The project further explores the social and emotional impact this is having on a generation, whilst questioning the future of the regions in an ever growing urbanised world.

Chieh Fui Liang

Entangled Flavours, 2023

I was born to a Chinese family, studied in an English school and grew up in an Islamic country called Brunei. Throughout my life I was exposed to different cultures and foods.

Food is one of the basic necessities of life. It can also have great personal significance when we share it with family and friends. Food is an effective way to connect with others and a tangible way to immerse in many different cultures.

This series is inspired by my experience of living in Melbourne. It explores my journey in collisions of food and merging of cultures. It is personal reflection of who I am now.

In Chinese culture, inviting guests to our home for a meal is a sign of trust. With this series, I hope to invite people to contemplate new and adventurous food narratives.

Hootan Haghshenas

The Man Who Wasn’t There, 2023

A photographic interpretation of recent traumatic events in Iran.

The Man Who Wasn’t There is my personal visual interpretation of unbelievable posts surrounding the tragic death of a young girl in Iran, sparking street protests and political disruption echoed through the news and social media. In a reality blurred by diverse perspectives and conflicting reports, the project seeks to express my struggle to comprehend the elusive truth. Through digital photography, computer-generated imaging, and digital composition, I forge a unique and intimate narrative image of the story. Enriched by Persian metaphors and symbolism, this series constructs an imaginary, surrealistic realm where the possible and impossible coexist.

Martina Cavanna

(What grows from a rotten pumpkin?), 2023

(What grows from a rotten pumpkin?) explores a circular journey of a defeat of human ignorance, positioning us under the unbeatable force of nature: We are all victims of decay by the erosion of the passage of time (death followed by, decomposition followed by, organic followed by life; repeat).

It is the exploration of a parallelism between our human interior’s complexity and a pumpkin; or any other organic being. It is part of the susceptibility of relationships, emotions and catalysts. It is the understanding of the need for mutual respect between two organisms; between nature and myself; between nature and you; between nature and nature.

This project sets to experiment with organic materials as a motor for printing as well as the reproduction of prime images, magnifying their physical scale converting it into a never-ending circuit. Opening with a photograph captured with a pumpkin-pinhole camera which is then projected and performed with; conveying a never ending circular journey of meaningless power.

Through the exploration of body performance photography and alternative photographic processes, the installation welcomes you to be intruded by the decay of our beings, let yourself be eroded by parallelism; and eventually understand your position in the world.

Mikayla De Pasquale

Celestial Trace, 2023. Pigment ink-jet print and cyanotypes.

Celestial Trace is a photographic exploration that documents solar phenomena. The research project uses handmade pinhole and mirrorless cameras to capture various durations that span across hours, days, weeks and months. I intimately record layered timescales from the daily passings of the sun onto photosensitive paper and film. The research aims to investigate a poetic presence of time that is imprinted, forever. My images are subject to chance and process including weather forecasts and shifting temperatures. The two photographic processes I use are solargraphy and cyanonegative. Through these techniques, I aim to capture perceptions of deep time, movement and invisibility in an experimental and poetic way. The final body of photographic work explores a personal experience of time through a universally shared light source, the sun.

Remi Siciliano

Bat Creek, 2023

Bat Creek is a speculative site emanating out of Burnt Bridge Creek in Balgowlah on Sydney’s Northern Beaches where a colony of Grey Headed Flying Foxes roost. I grew up one block away from the liminal creek and have returned to make work there for several years, captivated by its shifting seasonal landscapes and the creatures that inhabit it. The project considers the value of local practice, where years of return visits and intimate encounters are recorded through analogue photographic materials.

My longstanding speculative collaboration with fungus growing through silver gelatin film alongside recent darkroom experiments have facilitated new ways for the site to be visualised. Organisms meet in this landscape for the first time in both physical and intangible ways, carving out new ecological entanglements and possibilities. Native and introduced species become entwined in thriving, luscious density as photographic materials bear witness to these encounters.

In Inhabiting Emulsion fungal growth encounters images of the site within 35mm film, creating new topographies where the organism and particles of soil meet and consume the photographs. Ecotone visualises a landscape which is simultaneously nostalgic and unfamiliar. The solarised images evade reality whilst being tied directly to the enigmatic site.

Ryley Clarke

Dark Signs of a Red Summer’s Shadow, 2023

Dark Signs of a Red Summer’s Shadow is a youth culture narrative that reflects upon the interrelated experiences of young adults at a time of the pandemic. In this moment of social, economic, political, and environmental crises, young adults have found their transition into adulthood interrupted. The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns throughout 2020-2021 arrested time’s progression towards adulthood, disrupting a void of lost experiences and sensations. Inaction on climate change, proliferating wars, and mounting economic issues have contributed to a profound sense of a foreboding world. Coming of age in a time of escalating global challenges has affected the way young adults perceive their present existence and future. This documentary aims to shed light on the experiences and sensations which underpin the affective moments of becoming, during a time of pervasive apprehension. The work aims to capture and convey the tension of transitioning into adulthood, exploring the intimate moments of a generation finding its footsteps in an ever-shifting world. Through practice-led research, I delve into a cinematic exploration of these crises to examine how ominous shifts in our social world disrupt the transition from youth to adulthood. Weaving together portraiture, figurative, cinematic and speculative documentary storytelling techniques, this documentary seeks to process what was a confusing time in my life and contemplate the uncertain future of a generation in a world transformed.

Sophie Dumaresq

Press X to…, 2023

Press X to… is a series of photographs, staged physically, captured digitally and then translated through varying degrees of both analog and digital media and materials. Spurred by the debate within the computer sciences against the ‘one model to rule them all’ approach to machine learning and artificial intelligence, the work explores whether it is possible to create a truly empathetic model of artificial intelligence.

The work is a series staged self portraits with the artist’s real world mechanical great white shark (Baby) in a studio to resemble early video game screens similar to that of Tamagotchis and Pokemon. The artist’s absurd binary of characters – a cow and a shark, which come from the colloquial saying that ‘you are more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark’ – act as figures on many levels including the differences in their environmental needs and social behaviours, as grazing herd animals vs solitary predators. Without the intervention of humans they would have no reason to interact or become aware of one another.

Yi ’11’ Zhou

A Wobbly Fence Standing Tall, 2023

A Wobbly Fence Standing Tall is a body of work that reflects my experience as a third culture child who grew up in a Chinese family, raised in Australia. Through documentary photography, I focus on building an environment that emphasises the stereotypical lies around cultural identity.

I was born in Dubai, returned to China when I was two years old, and moved to Melbourne where I live today. In the diverse land of Melbourne, we often capture the colours of different cultures. Although we have different stories, we call this place ‘home’.

Slowly, I realised that I don’t seem to belong to Melbourne completely, I still have a place that I would like to call my ‘hometown’ – Tianjin. Although the stories that took place there and were called ‘childhood’ and are gradually blurring. However, the story of my hometown, Tianjin, has been renewed by the old family negatives that my father brought back.

To be honest, homecoming is not an accurate term. My hometown is like a dusty wooden box that creaks when I open it. I can’t seem to establish a deep emotional link with her anymore.

Just like the wobbly fence, I don’t know which way to fall…