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Abstract
The portrayal of animals in photographic practice traditionally focuses on details of expression, foliage and environment, relying on genres of human portraiture. Art-based photomedia practices can both question and work with the conventions of ‘nature’ portraiture and photography, often revealing its anthropomorphic biases. Roberts-Goodwin’s photomedia research investigates these issues of anthropomorphism while also contributing to new codes and conventions for the documentation of wildlife, animals and nature.
The photographic works Border series acknowledge the histories of photographic representation and interpretation of the animal within human visual culture, especially photographic portraiture. It is innovative insofar as it challenges many of the archetypes of pre-established animal portraiture. Through monumental scaling of the animal body and representation of a denuded landscape within the photographic image, the animal as subject, in Roberts-Goodwin photographic research on portraiture, challenges and significantly questions the nature of our role as human spectator.
The works Border series from the 2005 larger series ‘Disappearing Acts’, was supported by an Australia Council New Work Grant and a UNSW/COFA, Faculty Research Grant in 2004. The work has been exhibited in solo exhibition Disappearing Acts at Sherman Galleries, Sydney and in group exhibition Voiceless: I feel therefore I am; Sherman Galleries. The works were written on and reviewed by Charles Green, ‘We are all animal now’, Voiceless: I feel therefore I am, Catalogue, Sherman Galleries, Sydney, Joanna Mendelssohn, ‘Disappearing Act’, Artlink, vol. 25, no. 2, 2005, p. 99.