Alice Ng, Sonja Gardien, Di Halstead and Barbara Cope first exhibited together at Sonja's Studio 541 Gallery, Mt. Eden in 2017 and subsequently for FOP 2018. 

Reuniting for the 2024 Festival, the four photographers once again bring their individual voices together in the spirit of an independent point of view. 

Barbara Cope

Boudoir

Exploring the feminine, Boudoir touches on age and intimacy.

Identity, belief | Fragility Strength | Sensuality, faith | Fragility Love

Alice Ng

Time Capture

For this series of work, I chose to study the passage of time by observing the seashore. Closely I studied the waves, rising and falling, ebbing and flowing. Each cycle is transient, yet always there. In trying to capture the various moments in the wave cycle, I found myself asking “Am I capturing time or, in reality, is time capturing me?”. “How often are we aware of the time?”. “How many moments have we lost?”.

At least I know I was aware of the time when I was taking the photographs.

During the exhibition, I invite you to participate in ‘time-capturing’ with me. Please take a moment for yourself; how, and for how long, you spend is entirely up to you. You might write a poem, sketch a picture, write a note for a random stranger, or just simply sit in the chair. Whatever you do, please jot down the time you started and finished your ‘time-capture’ activity in the notebook provided. So, collectively we can gather our ‘conscious time’ in this exhibition space.

Sonja Gardien

Look out World

“Look out world” depicts an eye floating randomly in “the cloud”, representing someone watching the viewer as the viewer looks back, without giving this a second thought.

The work explores the act of looking and being looked at, often interchangeable actions in the internet: from browsing and watching, we immediately become the object of someone else’s browsing and surveillance.

Our lives are observed via the internet and social media. We are constantly and unwittingly manipulated to promote consumerism, as our personal information is collected. Trying to fit into this consumer culture makes individuals lose their own sense of identity. It also raises the possibility that people will accept a lie for the truth, but also mistake the truth for a lie.

Di Halstead

Whether the Weather Series II

In the Whether the Weather Series II, I am looking at climate.

Weather is part of our everyday lives we mundanely discuss it, we try to predict it and yearn for something else. It is a force beyond our control it seeps into our lives even though we try to protect ourselves from it.

This series explores the evanescent or transient nature of weather; whether it’s in flux or opposed to our wellbeing.

Weather reminds us that we must not forgo its reaction to our tardiness! The sublime landscape leaves us in awe of this precipice of change. Our belief in climate change lends itself to a new perspective to weather, which requires our respect and consideration.

Photos by Tatiana Harper Photography