Wednesday 21st September

Tracey Moffatt, from Something more, 1989

Continuing on the theme from my last post, when referring to artists from an Indigenous background do we need to advertise this information by labeling them as Urban Aboriginal artists? Tracey Moffatt was initially part of the Boomalli Aboriginal Artists’ Cooperative and deciding she did not want to be identified purely as an Aboriginal artist, but as an artist in her own rite, moved away from the group to be an independent artist which was a somewhat revolutionary approach. Consequently she did not apply for funding or grants that are available to Aboriginal artists and stopped exhibiting in group exhibitions with other indigenous artists.

Moffatt’s images are carefully crafted, if not meticulously constructed whether discussing her photographs, which have the appearance of a still-shot from a film with a painterly affect which she creates using various film effects, or her filmic ventures. Her images do not claim to be a recreation of reality, but a true measure of artisty. Regardless, Moffatt is nothing less than brilliant and a true pioneer of this type of photography and filmic technique and her images are an authentic representation of a timeless contemporary practice.

As an photographic artist who is interested in using text with images, I particularly like the Scarred for Life series, which presents a series of seemingly ordinary images that are supported with meaningful text which are all based on real life stories told to her by friends. So of the childhood narratives are funny, some boarder on uncomfortable, whilst others are tragic. The stories are universal and there is something about the ordinary everyday appeal to which everyone can relate.