Demountable is an exhibition by 6 artists who have come together through the National Art School short course “Photographic Practice: Preparing Photographs for an exhibition”.

Ella Dreyfus, curator of Demountable, is an artist and lecturer in Photography at The National Art School. This exhibition is the culmination of the work produced by the artists working alongside Ella and Blender Gallery throughout this course.

The work produced is purely individual and exciting, with each artist exploring various techniques and subject matter.

MARY ANNE BROPHY

“Before me floats an image, man or shade, Shade more than man, more image than a shade…” Byzantium, W.B.Yeats, 1930

Having lived in Hong Kong for several years, and traveled extensively in Asia, Mary Anne Brophy is fascinated by the roles of women in Asian societies. Stereotypical images of Asian women include the Japanese geisha, the Chinese courtesan, “Hello Kitty”, the Thai sex worker, the exiled Filipina domestic helper and the Hong Kong “Tai Tai”.
Brophy's series of photographs juxtaposes the Hong Kong Tai Tai with the Patpong Road sex worker. A Tai Tai fills her days at the beauty salon, shopping and playing mahjong. She wears the latest designer fashions, is always on an Hermes waiting list – and she can keep an eye on her husband’s stocks while she shops.
The Patpong Road sex worker has been in the industry from a young age, supporting herself and her extended family in an alley brimming with fake designer goods. She shares a bowl of noodles with a co-worker between clients.
One woman is a consumer; the other is a consumable. Consumption, by definition, means “using up; destruction; waste”.
“Inexorably”, Brophy says, “as I have witnessed in Asia, it leads to confusion, dislocation and alienation”. Sadly, the life choices of the Hong Kong Tai Tai are denied by birth and circumstances to the Patpong Road sex worker. The inequity of the hands dealt these two women is profound.

ANDREW COLLETT

The dictionary defines COLLAGE as a collection, of UNRELATED THINGS.
This, then, could mean that collage exists or lives on in some sort of disaffiliated state. Yet, when these unrelated things are subjected to a shift, a repositioning, affiliation occurs and relations do appear.
In a sense this rearrangement, this fitting together begins another scene. A scene from the past or into the future, a scene that could be true or untrue, moving between the real and the imaginary.
The work, which Collett has produced, has no delegated subject. Subject unknown. It’s opportunistic and open to chance. Anything goes. It commits to the principles of composition, colour, light, surface and design.
In the end, the final relation rests between a collaboration of all the fitting parts, merging the IMAGE, the WORD, and the FRAME. Which come to be... AN ENSEMBLE OF THINGS.

ANNE GRAHAM

Changing light makes the most lifeless objects intriguing, creating a myriad of moods, emotions, expressions – mirroring the complexities of temperament and personality.
The objects absorb the surroundings and reflect an existence; they begin to tell their own stories. Fuse this with intransient visual images - and then, observe.
The moments of intimacy Anne Graham experienced in working with these subjects became almost voyeuristic.

“Watching as lovers or best friends engaged in a relationship created, for me, a paradox of symbolic logic” Graham says.
But Graham found that she became engrossed in the need to interpret this relationship, to respond to the extended chain of associations unfolding as she silently observed.
‘They became my lovers, my friends and this liaison crossed into the realm of eccentricity. Our relationship evolved into the surreal, the dreamlike’.
Graham invites you to intrude on this peculiar familiarity.

JANE HORTON

“The object is there, and yet it is not an object. It’s something else. It has meaning, but mostly my meaning.” – Aaron Siskind

The close examination of a subject has enabled Jane Horton to make an image that captures her connection to the visual world. By framing this subject close-up, and through the use of narrow picture frames, the objects become abstracted, and drama is communicated through the composition of line, colour and texture.
Horton photographs situations, which are found both in the built and non-built environment. In the urban environment, which is predictable in design, unique spaces are created through the infusion of these two elements.
This idea is articulated in Chaos Theory which refers to an underlying interconnectedness that exists in apparently random events.
“Chaos Theory focuses on hidden patterns, nuances, the sensitivity of things and the rules for how the unpredictable leads to the new.”
The images Horton creates allows the viewer to experience an emotional reaction, rather than a photographic document.
“The subject looses its recognizable form, and what remains is the emphasis on line and texture, which hold the essence of an abstract expressionist painting” says Horton.
Aaron Siskind and Harry Callahan are two of the artists that applied the theories of abstract expressionism to the photographic medium. These photographers have provided Horton with a theoretical framework for understanding her image making.

DAVID MANLEY

“The distance between the old photo and the one you are making is the distance of a life time, the private journey from the flame to the ashes as the room closes in on everything but memory” Charles Bowden 1994

For David Manley, photography isn’t about being an observer; it’s about the relationship that is formed when you involve yourself with the subject matter.
Manley’s’ ideas and interests generally come from people he has known and also from the transitory nature of relationships and the impressions they leave, both positive and negative.
These complimentary series of photographs are part of an ongoing body of work that attempts to explore traces of the human imprint in time, its presence and absence.

Dusk in suburbia has always given Manley certain un-easiness. It’s a time when the members of the house gather to meet and the day’s events are discussed and dissected. The issues create a glowing intensity from within.
Alma has lived in her unit in Manly since 1962. A great grandmother, her daughter and granddaughter care for her and the community nurse visits once a day. She is 97 years of age. The idea behind this work is to link the presence of people to the inner and outer places of suburbia through their absence. The glow of a light through a window. A life marked by personal objects. The positive. The negative. The in-between.

LORRAINE SULLIVAN

“Art is contact, and your work necessarily reveals the nature of that contact. In making art you declare what is important.” Art & Fear by David Bayles & Ted Orland

Lorraine Sullivan likes the challenge of photographing plants in their natural surroundings.
The elements are not as co-operative as they could be; the wind loves to gust just when you take your shot. ‘There is joy in capturing that moment when the sun hits a dew drop at just the right angle and you often don’t even see it until you develop the print.’
Ansel Adams said of Edward Weston’s work – “He has created the matter, form and forces of nature; he has made these forms eloquent of the fundamental unity of the world. His work illuminates man’s inner journey towards perfection of the spirit.”
Sullivan finds there is an energy and serenity that comes from spending time in the garden that renews the spirit.
Sullivan’s photos declare what is important to her and aims to inspire others to search for what is important to them.

DEMOUNTABLE will be opened by Jayne Dyer, Head of Public Programs, National Art School on November 18th at Blender Gallery, Paddington at 6pm. The exhibition will run until November 30th.