Narelle Autio: WaterHole
If you are familiar with contemporary Australian photography you should be familiar with Narelle's work which generally focusses on the coastal areas of Australia in particular her under water work of swimmers at the beach.
The shows post card
Her current show (held at Stills Gallery) heads inland to the world of billabongs in the Northern areas of Australia. The content of each of the photographs featured in this body of work could be split into two different groups with only a couple of images that fall into the grey area between.
One of the feature walls at Stills Gallery
The first group are series of cool blue waters and animus swimmers enjoying the cool waters which provide such a respire from the Australian heat that lies above theatre and out of frame. There is a lovely shot of some people resting on a submerged log with only there lower bodies in the cool blue water with some delicious underwater light trails.
The second group is a series of of macro landscapes of the billabong, off the bright green algies and other water plants that you could imagine being part of the primeval goo that first gave life to the plant. The most telling of these is a shot with a praying mantis in frame with some out of focus ague taking the form or a nebula and some tiny air bubbles that look like distant suns.
The Exhibition runs to August 25 and is well worth the trip.
The show description and price list.