Horizontal Composite

Sahan

I am interested in the kinds of paintings that straddle the religious and secular worlds in western art, particularly when opulence was intended because opulence and ‘tastelessness’ are frequent bedfellows. I find it interesting that elements from cultures that are also frequently denigrated are co-opted to allow the subject to be expressed in a way that convention prevents, a kind of mask wearing or performance, Orientalism being one such school. I took my internalised influences from cultures and my own knowledge of what makes an image decorative. I can see clear parallels with the art of Indigenous Australians, and Polynesians. Both cultures share heritage that was frequently completely missed by the western historical mindset that values physical artifacts above the linguistic, cultural and intangible. These images all come from analogue photobooth self portraits that I drew on, re-photographed and printed on tosa washi paper. The framed image is has been placed on board and the frame covered in a phrase made with a typewriter.

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