Two weeks fly by pretty quickly. For stylistic purposes, I chose to shoot this subject matter using constructed portraits and to emulate a cinematic lighting style. When I arrived at the gallery two weeks ago, I was worried that the images would not fit well in the space. I had printed the images double the size I originally planned for good thing too as they looked great as A2 prints and I thought they would be a bit squished in the small space.
Melbourne is a long jump over the Tasman from Wellington, so there was no way I could visit the exhibition space beforehand to see how the images would fit. However using my well-honed Blue Peter skills and rummaging through the recycling for a couple of cereal boxes, I managed to craft a scale model of the exhibition space, and quickly found the best layout for the images.
The evening I arrived in Melbourne, after having only three hours sleep the previous night, my curating and hanging skills were a little uncoordinated! Only the next morning, once the images were equally spaced and securely fixed to the wall thanks to a little a lot of help from one of the gallery elves was I relieved to see that they actually looked pretty darn good and not too squished. Come the afternoon of the big exhibition opening, as I was preparing the finishing touches to the exhibition space, I was starting to get a little nervous about how the subject matter might be received.
It was a huge relief to see people spending time in the space and reading the captions and information sheets that I had provided. It shows people took a real interest in the work and the story that was being told. The value of this work was further reinforced by positive feedback the gallery curator had been receiving from visitors throughout the duration of the exhibition:. I just wanted to pass on that I have had an incredible amount of visitors express a great deal of gratitude for your exhibition.
Our visitors have been learning, and feeling inspired. Your work invites a real personal experience and this has been really meaningful! My background in documentary and editorial photography informs my work as a photographer, and fuels my interest in using visual imagery to tell stories.
