Interior Disaster
2007
lambda prints
In the essay that accompanied the 1997 exhibition and catalogue Scene of the Crime, Ralph Rugoff addressed art practices bound together by space, representation and crime. The art object is discussed in terms of the forensic aesthetic, in which the absence of subjects, themes and dramas, suggests some type of criminal action. Without a definable visible style, traces of the art- making activity or event are only revealed, emphasising the role of viewer as detective; forced to reconstruct behaviour, motivation and actions. Focusing on surface description and aesthetic aftermath, I aim to trace the irregular, used, abandoned and destroyed. Intending to engage the spectator in an exercise of mental re-enactment and investigative interpretation, each scene is photographed as a type of evidence, a visual clue to absent meanings and prior events. The specific isolation of the depicted environments, void of human presence and the notion that my images are a type of surveillance and investigation are part of my process. I am fascinated with the scene of the crime and all that it can suggest, the presence and absence of meaning, occasionally banal, yet overwhelming with its aura. Interior Disaster is a record of a decomposing household approximately eleven months after Cyclone Larry destroyed it. Witnessing first-hand the devastation this disaster caused my family, the series also aims to address subjective concepts of place, memory and loss.