Lisa Tomasetti

Artist's Statement - Happy After Ever

This series continues my interpretative response to the work of the Dutch Masters, through previous series Burnt Memory (2011), Unwritten Skin (2008), and Vanilla and Misfortune (2005). Now in Happy After Ever (2019) I enlist elements of landscape to further my investigation of notions of impermanence and turbulence caused by the impact of the digital in photography’s new realm. By placing the figure in inhospitable, timeless environments the work contemplates whether contemporary photography’s digital expression risks its legacy as lasting cultural artefact?

Within Happy After Ever my intention is to produce a series of photographs affirming the lasting power of the photographic image. In the current world where quantity seems the enemy of quality and the recorded history is at stake, this series asks whether the ubiquity of photography has threatened its authority as art, and at worst whether its practice remains a valid form

Surrealism has a long history in art and photography is not slow to follow. Whether employing a landscape backdrop or an overscaled still life of fruit behind a human figure (in this case a young woman embarking on life), the purpose is to disrupt ways of seeing, to lend a hyperreality to the image. The surprising narrative presented invites the viewer to complete their own narrative, to engage with life in the story and to awaken their intelligence and senses.

In these images I collaborate with my daughter we engage in our lives both parallel and unique. They are drawn from life and therefore speak truths that only photography and the image can articulate. As such they are essentially impressions of the real world as we repeat our journeys generation after generation. This is where history comes in.

Photography is capable of permanence both technically and emotionally as record. These qualities will never leave photography as long as we value it as art.

Education
2014
Master of Documentary Photography, Sydney College of the Arts

1988
Bachelor Visual Arts, Photography, Cinematography, South Australian University, Underdale

1983
Bachelor Communication Studies, Literary Studies, Art, South Australian University, Magill

Awards
2011
Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, Portrait Prize, Canberra

2010
Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery

2009
Finalist, National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize, Canberra

2007
Finalist, The Inaugural William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, VIC
Finalist, Albury National Photographic Portrait Prize, Albury Regional Gallery, NSW
Finalist, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra, Regional Art Gallery, QLD

2006
Finalist, Archibald Photographic Portrait Prize, Art Gallery of NSW

1993
Australia Council Studio, Besozzo, Italy

1991
Exhibition Materials Grant, SA Department for the Arts

1991
Travel Grant, SA Department for the Arts, Production Photographer, British Theatre Company

Solo Exhibitions
2019
Happy After Ever, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

2019
Happily After Ever, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2015
The APPlication of Mercy, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2015
The Australian Ballet on Tour, M Contemporary Gallery, Sydney

2013
Behind the Scenes: The Australian ballet on the International Stage
Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide
James Makin Gallery, Melbourne

2011
Burnt Memory, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

2010
Burnt Memory, Gallerysmith, Melbourne
Burnt Memory, Harrison Galleries, Sydney

2009
Burnt Memory, Hoopers Art Gallery, London

2008
Unwritten Skin, Gallery 101, Vic

2007
Unwritten Skin, Byron McMahon Gallery, NSW, 1918 Artspace, Shanghai

2006
Of Blessed Memory, Gallery 101, Melbourne

2005
Vanilla and Misfortune, Byron McMahon Gallery, Sydney
Vanilla and Misfortune, Gallery 101, Melbourne

2002
First Kiss, Monash Art Gallery, Melbourne VIC
Byron Mapp Gallery, Sydney NSW

2000
Volvo Gallery, Sydney, NSW
Silent Breath, Stills Gallery, Sydney, NSW

1998
One, The Greenaway Art Gallery, SA
Robert Lindsay Gallery, Melbourne
First Draft Gallery, Sydney

1996
Broken Places, Stills Gallery, Sydney, NSW
The Greenaway Art Gallery, SA

1995
Quench, Contemporary Art Centre, SA

1994
Piacere, The Greenaway Art Gallery, SA

1993
Passion, The Greenaway Art Gallery, SA

Selected Group Exhibitions
2018
StartStruck, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra

2017
Illuminance, Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide

2007
Clearings, Gallery 101, Melbourne

1994
AGFA Photographic National Touring Exhibition, NSW

Collections

Albury Regional Art Centre, NSW; Artbank, Australia; Australian National Gallery, Canberra; Photographs from the production of ‘The Seagull’ by the State Theatre Company selected for the Chekhov Museum, Moscow; Monash Gallery of Art, VIC; South Australian Art Gallery, SA; Western Australian Art Gallery, WA