ORPHEUS – Exhibition

Foreboding and promise imbue these photographic vignettes, created during a reprieve in mid 2021, when Melbournians briey thought they were free of lockdown. While evoking a sense of entrapment, this series invites the viewer to move beyond this.

Flowers emerging out of darkness, reminiscent of the Dutch masterpieces of the 17th century are a reminder of the transitory nature of everything. Floating alongside the blossoms are jewel-like creatures and shells, shrouded by golden nets and cellophane.

We are living through an age where our lens on the world must constantly shift and refocus as new ideas, crises, social movements and the natural environment rapidly changes.

A level of poetic consciousness is required to navigate this. Orpheus was a poet, a prophet and a musician in Greek mythology who at the end of his life worshipped no god but the sun.

In these images Orpheus is a woman glistening oracle-like, asleep on a dark sandscape. The viewer is invited to embrace their own mortality and energy for change simultaneously. To dare to be one’s own illumination—like a transient point of light in a night sky.