Echoes of a Gaze, invites artists to capture and create a representation of a subject matter in the form of portraiture art. The exhibition will showcase the intimate dialogue between viewer and subject through visual communication and will offer insight into their surroundings.
Critical to our understanding of ideologies of story telling, through the eyes of portraiture, and representation of human experience, Echoes of a Gaze highlights the innovative connection between state of mind and human expression.
Opening Event: Friday 6 October 6–8PM
Gallery space: Top Floor Gallery
Invisible Lives, 2017
70 x 47cm, Framed Limited Edition Archival C-Type Print 1/7 + 2AP
Invisible Lives depicts an asylum-seeking Para family from Sri Lanka, who have been living in Ballarat since 2013. Without permanent residency status in Australia for over a decade, their everyday struggle was often unbearable. Soon after they arrived in Ballarat, we became close, and after hearing their story, I decided to bring awareness to their situation. I found their resilience remarkable.
This portrait was created on location in Black Hill in Ballarat for the 2017 Ballarat International Foto Biennale exhibition In The Process Of Healing, and respectively featured at the current 2023 festival edition in a continuation exhibition titled Erased.
After a decade of advocacy and campaigning by many from the Ballarat community, the Para family has recently been granted a permanent residency in Australia.