Alternate: Have our successes become our failures?

Alternate is Canadian artist Jennifer Norman’s first solo exhibition in Australia. The show consists of thirteen photographs that depict industrial subject matter in a very unfamiliar way. As part of her ongoing PhD candidature, Alternate aims to problematise photography as an accurate system for documenting manufactured landscapes and the environmental problematic.

Norman’s work focusses on the understanding that advancements in technology and increased research into ecological issues has not only furthered our knowledge and awareness of industrialization’s impact upon the environment, but has also led to confusion in how we actively respond to these issues. The phrase “the more we know, the less we understand” is becoming all too familiar in the dialogues related to these concerns. Photography has come to be heavily relied upon to act as ‘proof’ of environmental detritus and decay due to industry. Yet photography is always an abstraction of reality, and it is here where Norman situates her critique.

The works in this show alter the conceived view of industry from entropic and colourless to one of beauty. Through utilising the failure of colour film due to extended exposures (reciprocity failure), Norman creates images rich with illusory colours, generating an oscillation between real and fictional elements. This ‘alternation’ acts to exemplify the confusion and uncertainty surrounding the contemporary ‘age of information’ related to the effect that industrial ‘success’ has had upon the environment, and aims to prompt an ongoing dialogue concerning the environmental future.

Alternate will exhibited at the exit gallery, Sydney College of the Arts, until 18 April.

Image: Geometry and Shadows, 2007