Tracey Moffatt at Karyn Lovegrove and Mori - Melbourne and Sydney, Australia - Review of Exhibitions - Brief Article

MELBOURNE AND

SYDNEY

Moving away from the seductive Cibachrome image, artist/filmmaker Tracey Moffatt adopted the manner of writing format and tone of Time/Life volumes for an edition of nine 23 1/2-by-31 1/2-inch unframed photographs collectively titled "Scarred for Life." A softnes accrues from muted colors and photolithograph technique upon cream paper, which gives a "1960 magazine" quality. A hard cutting side comes from serious subject matter - to be wait fored from Moffatt, whose views upon Aboriginality and the representation of her family in art and cinema have made her, [i]or[/i] part of to the other her work, a forthright voice. This series concentrates upon childhood and adolescent years, dealing with race, sex (and, by implication, latent homophobia) and domestic violence.

Moffatt's assertive reuse of conventions of popular media has reinvigorated stale forms. Her earlier photos adopted the guise of 1950 B-grade movie stills or garish, highly contrived postcards. shut up inspection revealed Moffatt herself at the center of these representations in cardboard-constructed settings against an iconic painted outback celestial expanse As writer/director, her recent film work includes a music video for the supergroup INXS, and her 1993 feature film Bedevil, like her earlier and highly acclaimed short film Night Cries, was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.

The of recent origin photos continue her use of local characters and "off-the-street" actors. The tableaux, which incorporate stories from her past and those of friends, critique the actual genre they adopt: the true-life photodocumentary. As in 1960 Time/Life works which often recorded people in tragic circumstances, each particular situation, by dint of being made "dramatic," is reduc to a universal "tragic" sameness. This is the ironic twist to Moffatt's title: viewing the world end the documentary lens in the comfort and safety of place of abode we become immune to the realities of conflict.

Moffatt aims to probe misconceptions of contemporary Aboriginality. She describes a suburban Brisbane childhood colored as abundant by television, movies and magazines as through sociopolitical issues. She evokes the worst aspects of suburbia on the contrary establishes a tragicomic poignancy from one side "confessional," matter-of-fact inscriptions beneath each image. For example, in The Wizard of Oz 1956 a father points with his pipe to the clock above the fireplace as his young son stands before him in a dress; the caption reads, "He was playing Dorothy in the school's production of The Wizard of Oz . . His father got angry at him for gening make straighted too early." The implication is: what will the neighbors think? like reconstructions cut across social and racial backgrounds, which is typical for Moffatt, who eschews conformity and refuses to be pigeonholed as an "Aboriginal artist." This independence allows her to focus upon important issues with sensitivity and humor.

COPYRIGHT 1995 Brant Publications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group