3 New Exhibitions at The Photography Room
Dörte Conroy — What Comes to Mind: Lorna Sim — Enigma:
Maurice Weidmann- Absence of Sunshine
Exhibition Dates: 19 May — 25 June 2017
Gallery open Sundays 10am-4pm and by appointment.
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Dörte Conroy | What Comes to Mind
For this exhibition I have created small-scale, transitory sculptures, with the specific intention of turning them into permanent photographs. They feature odd combinations of some of my favourite objects, many of which have been in my possession for many years, and still elicit delight and excitement.
Many artificial/plastic materials are particularly attractive to me. I am also fond of materials featuring repetitive patterns; a series of holes punched into plastic, metal, or cardboard excites me. With the right light, there is also the potential for a dramatic shadow or shadows to exist, adding yet another dimension to the work.
— Dörte Conroy
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Lorna Sim | Enigma
Enigma is presented in the form of an individual and the free spirit that assumes it. Enigma is a journey into a world of ambiguity, contradiction and open-mindedness, discarding time, gender, space and what is familiar.
This body of work features Eliza Sanders, a contemporary and award-winning performing artist/choreographer with no home base, nomadically dancing all over the world. Conformity has no relation to her. In many ways Eliza reflects my photographic practice with her spontaneity; unconstrained by norms, allowing her body to seek alternative possibilities and understanding. I always become excited as her body starts to express and create movements within the still frame, not knowing what is going to happen from one moment to the next.
— Lorna Sim
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Maurice Weidmann | Absence of Sunshine
In April 2017 TPR’s Director Sean Davey stumbled across a set of black and white photographic prints at an op-shop in Yass, New South Wales. Tucked away in a corner of this op-shop, standing up between a table and a set of drawers, was a wonderful set of photographs that demanded attention.
Realising that the photographs were gelatin silver prints, Sean looked a little closer at the collection and was struck by the beauty of what he had found. The photographs were stamped with the name Maurice Weidmann, and depict theatre productions from Canberra in the 1980’s. On the reverse of many of the prints is the name of the production, the location, date and even some of the actors’ names who star in the images. Sean purchased 12 of the 20 photographs that were there. This series of photographs celebrates the artistic sensibilities of the late Maurice Weidmann, while showcasing Canberra’s rich artistic heritage.
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ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHERS
DÖRTE CONRY is an artist based in Canberra, Australia. Dörte was a career graphic designer, and in 2006–7 she attained a Master of Art (Visual Art) Sculpture, National Institute of the Arts (NITA), Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Dörte has held and participated in many solo and group exhibitions in Canberra, Hobart and Sydney. Dörte’s works are held at Artbank, Australia as well as in private collections.
LORNA SIM is primarily interested in storytelling and documenting human stories for posterity, influenced by her academic background in Sociology and Anthropology (ANU). Lorna’s photographic skills were developed at PhotoAccess, the National Recording Studio/School and Canberra Institute of Technology. Lorna has had her work exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and other states since 2000. Lorna’s photographs are held in private and corporate collections.
MAURICE WEIDMANN was an accomplished scientist and served as Head of the Division of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Faculty of Science at the ANU for seven years (until 1993). A keen photographer, Maurice was an active member of the Canberra Photographic Society, where he showed a keen interest in photographing theatre productions. Maurice died in 2001.