Photography, conceived as the dumb slave of science, has never fulfilled its promise of achieving the perfect image — an impression of the world that could describe it more accurately than our perception grants us. The four Melbourne artists in ‘Perfect Information’ all acknowledge this impossibility in their own practices, and make work which explores its implications. This exhibition will present four distinct approaches to the shortcomings of the medium, engaging both the initial photographic impulse and the eventual human encounter with the image itself.
In ‘Parallax’, an ongoing body of work, GAVIN LUKE GREEN presents portrait and still life photographs as precise diptychs that create a plural form of looking. Drawing inspiration from perspectival and anatomical studies, the series crafts a dialogue between photographic and physiological modes of perception.
THOMAS DALLAS WATSON further develops his ongoing interest in interpersonal relationships in ‘Under a Sea of Sand’, an installation of photographic portraits and supporting soundscapes. The work provides fragmentary information on its subjects, drawing attention to gaps in information between images, sound, and our realtime perceptions. As the audio in Watson’s installation unfolds, so does an understanding of his central subjects and the complex nature of human interaction.
Using found videos made by Chinese tourists, images from science textbooks as well as original photographs and video, DANIEL STEPHEN MILLER’s work situates itself somewhere between a souvenir shop and a wunderkammer. The skewed interpretations of souvenir objects in ‘Some Things Aussie’ take the Australia cultivated in the international imagination and turn it back on itself. Behind the cute koalas and bargain boomerangs is a disquieting fantasy of an island continent both native and modern, comfortably enjoying its position at the arse end of the world.
In ‘Industry Standard’, HANNAH SPENCE examines the obsessions of the commercial photography industry with creating the perfect representation of a subject. Depicting a series of pre-filmic manipulations of typical commercial subject matter, Spence’s work displays a physical deception every bit as misleading as digital post-production. Having been tampered with long before the fall of the shutter, her photographs playfully speak to the impossibility of a true and faithful image