JILL ORR Between somewhere and nowhere.
Between somewhere and nowhere is Jill Orr’s new photographic series. This body of work explores society’s obsession with authenticity and further discusses photography as a means of illusion. We are surrounded by photographs which are based on false ideals or fictions and to some extent we accept them as truth.
The photographs exhibit a staged theatrical performance with dramatic scenes of ghost like figures emerging from a haunted wetland abyss. Elusive women wear costumes of lace and white linen while props such as canaries and canoes balance an ambiguous line between gravity and humour. The ominous background fades into smoke, while bringing to your attention the artificiality of the scene. The photographs revel in the past, appropriating a macabre 19th century daguerreotype portrait.
Since the 1970′s Jill Orrs work has grappled with psychological and environmental issues within contemporary society. Moving between performance art and photography, her works explain human intervention with the non-human environment. Orr’s previous and significant works such as Bleeding Trees,Faith in a faithless land and Southern Cross: to bear and behold explore Australian history and culture in the context of the natural landscape.
Jenny Port Gallery, Level 1, 7 Albert Street, Richmond, Victoria. Jill Orr, Between somewhere and nowhere. October 26 – November 19, 2011
