LISA GARLAND - STILL REVERENCE

13 AUGUST – 25 SEPTEMBER 2016

LISA GARLAND: STILL REVERENCE
2016 Solo Commission

Curated by Ellie Ray

Opening Friday 12 August, 6 pm

Each year the Devonport Regional Gallery presents an exhibition of works by a mid-career Tasmanian artist. The 2016 Solo Commission was awarded to North West artist Lisa Garland and provided her with support to research and create a new body of work.

Lisa Garland has produced an extraordinary series of black and white photographs and video work for this commission which primarily focus on a selection of subjects in the Devonport region. The impetus for this body of work ‘took flight’ when Garland moved into a new teaching role at Don College. An astute observer of people and their surroundings, she was captivated by specific characters and scenes as she drove to work.

Working with a large format film camera Garland creates moody black and white photographs. For this commission, the photographic film has been scanned and printed digitally as large scale images. On entering the exhibition viewers will become involved in a strange world of observations where the photographed subjects look out as we the viewer ‘look in’ at the subject within their domestic spaces. Garland views her subjects with reverence – she listens to their stories, empathises with them and photographs them in a way that captivates the viewer – we can almost ‘hear’ their stories. Garland represents personalities that might otherwise appear as anonymous faces in the crowd. Her non-peopled spaces seem to take on a personality of their own and are strategically placed between different series of portraits.

Image credit: Lisa Garland, Freddy and Gwen, 2016, giclée print from film negative