THE ARTIST & HER WORK  ARTISTS

Louise Baker

Warm Regards is a secret and intimate gesture reminiscent of a Photo locket, worn close to the skin and absorbing the warmth of the wearer into the silk and in turn the portrait, it is creating a playful parody referencing the contemporary sexualisation and commodification of the body evident in selfie culture.

Louise Baker is an emerging artist in Sydney.  Baker studied photo media at Sydney TAFE, graduating in 2008. And has since exhibited in group exhibitions in Sydney.  In 2014 her solo exhibition “substrate” aka That Jumping Guy was presented at Gaffa Gallery as part of the Head On festival.  In 2015 “that Jumping Guy “was exhibited at Photoaccess Canberra.

Kaya Clarkson

Imperfect Version is about the creation of the image and both the vulnerability and empowerment that comes from using images of oneself.  The stencil is a means to reevaluate and manipulate identity and the image that is chosen to display to the world.  My work has always drawn on my own experience and body as source material to explore ideas of self portraiture and the representation of the body.  Creating a space of self-examination and a platform to explore evolving ideas of self-image, this body of work uses the self-portrait to probe the dynamic relationship between the sense of self and social identity.

Kaya Clarkson is an emerging artist working in the field of painting. She recently graduated from the National Art school with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Honours in Painting.  Kaya is also a founding and current director of the artist run space Stacks Projects in Sydney. 

Jessica Cochrane

I’m standing before the camera, and it’s not comfortable for me to do so. The shutter sounds, and I try to imagine the image of myself. It’s weird not to have seen my own face before, only ever in reflections or photographs. My appearance veiled by the out of focus shot, enabling me to work with this as my portrait. I can bring myself close enough to intimately work the paint over my face, all the while keeping myself at a distance – much the same as I treat the audience. The paint rests atop the surface, softening the glare often applied to a female. It intercepts the critique, because you’re not really able to assess me as an object. I blend into the paint. 

Jessica Cochrane is an Early Career Artist from Canberra, currently practicing in Sydney. Her work is a critical reflection upon the relationship between society and the consumption of popular culture, often with a focus on beauty, through painterly application over photographic images.
Cochrane’s graduate work was nominated for the National Graduate Show at PICA in 2014 and has since exhibited in group and solo shows at venues such as Ambush Gallery and The Brisbane Powerhouse Museum.

Sofie Dieu

Sofie Dieu is a visual artist who has made Sydney her home. Her journey from France, to China and now Australia, has uncovered many influences that have shaped her practice.  In ‘Me, Myself and I’, Sofie is examining autobiographical domestic art and the feminine.   This recent body of work, based on cathartic and re-enactment practices, investigates trauma as it pertains to family history.  With her sculptures and performance, the artist doesn’t only portray herself, but also speaks of the flow of emotions, the way they shape us and how they are linked to collective and individual memories.
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Sofie Dieu is currently undertaking a Master of Contemporary Practice at the University Montpellier III, France.  She has exhibited her work at North Gallery, Warringah Creative Space in Sydney and the Beth Hulme Gallery in Melbourne.  She is also assisting Swedish artist Bo Christian Larsson as part of his project ‘Fade Away’ for the Biennale of Sydney.

Laura Moore

These self-portraits address the theme of identity, both of self and society.  School photos are a cultural symbol, a rite of passage and a document of our growth and journey into adulthood.  Appropriating the style of the familiar school photo, this work subverts the ordinary to present an alternative truth.  As an autobiographical work, it is my reflection on the child I was and tells of the compassion I feel for the journey she will take.  In a broader context this work acknowledges the difficulties of traveling from the innocence of childhood to the realities of adulthood.  Our school years can be amazing years of self-discovery but are also loaded with pressures and challenges.
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Laura is currently a Masters candidate at The University of Sydney where she also graduated from the Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours 1) 2015.  Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in A.I.R Gallery, New York, Verge Gallery, Art Est. and Firstdraft as well as a part of the PICA Salon 2014. 

Brooke Sanderson

Through self-portraiture my work explores projected states of female gender in material forms.  Colours and textures often carry with them a female sensibility that has been created for us, not by us.  Through colour and texture my work acts to question and parody these ‘feminine’ qualities that have acted as a construct in my identity.
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Brooke graduated from the National Art School with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Brooke has exhibited in Sydney and in 2014 undertook the D’CLINIC Residency in Slovenia.

Zoe Wong

The body of work “You’re a good Chinese girl” comes from the phrase my Aunty says to me as I scrub the graves of my grandparents. However I am not "a good Chinese girl", I am not even fully Chinese.
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The complex identifications of East and West that engulf a person who is half Chinese and half Australian are immense.  The Disney film Mulan (1998) represent both a small fragment and a huge portion of this complexity. Growing up the character Mulan quickly became my Chinese idol, and yet ironically she was created by white America.  As an autobiographical work " You're a Good Chinese Girl" is about being raised in a Western society amidst pop-culture representations of Chinese culture.  As a political work It critically reflects in the binaries we still live by: East/West; Male/Female; Asian/Caucasian.  This work is about the bizarre floating space where you are neither one nor the other and yet at the same time a perfect blend of both.

Zoe Wong is a Sydney based artist working closely with cultural appropriation through photography.  She is interested in how racial stereotypes within popular culture impact the mixed race community and how to create a new representation for bi/multi racial people within contemporary art.  Zoe is currently studying her Bachelor of photography and situated media (Honours) at UTS.
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