A Queensland Festival of Photography Event @ Futures Gallery

Place, of course, as opposed to the more generalized “site” or “land,” is a specific collaboration between nature and people, constantly altered and inevitable defined by narratives from the contact zones. (Stuart & Lippard 2010:11)*

In this exhibition Victoria Cooper and Doug Spowart traverse themes, both personal and political, in the investigation and representation of “site” and “place” in the Australian landscape.

The work connects contemporary social issues with historical, scientific and mythological insights intrinsic to each site. In most cases this work is resolved in the form of artists’ books or photobooks. Critical to, and inherent in, this work isthese visual narratives that are deeply-rooted in the recording and interaction of each place.

While working ‘on site’ Spowart and Cooper utilize and extend the concept of the documentary photographic methodology, to include light sculptures using projected images, the camera obscura and the cyanotype. Ultimately the books become a ‘site’ in which the constructed visual narratives coalesce and create a dialogue with the reader and their observed reality of the ‘everyday’.

As readers of these books touch and turn the pages they develop a physical connection with the work and its ideas. Cooper and Spowart refer to this also as the CONTACT ZONE.

To view works from this show visit the COOPER+SPOWART Website: <www.cooperandspowart.com.au>

‘Contact Zone’ installation #1

‘Contact Zone’ installation #2

Queensland Festival of Photography Program

*Stuart, M & Lippard, L 2010, Michelle Stuart, Sculptural objects: journeys in & out of the studio, Charta, Milano.