Contemporary Photography on Display this month

Magic of the camera obscura revealed in contemporary photography exhibition at The Millicent Gallery

Robyn Stacey: Ray of Light is on display at The Millicent Gallery.

For this exhibition, eight large-scale camera obscura photographs by contemporary Australian artist Robyn Stacey will be on display for the first time in Millicent.

First shown as part of the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Magic Object, Stacey’s camera obscura photographs depict an optical device of wonder, whereby the external world is trapped and inverted within the room. Included in the exhibition are camera obscura photographs of iconic and well-known sites around Adelaide, including the Brookman Building at the University of South Australia, Carrick Hill, The Cedars at Hahndorf, the Institute Building, The Lighthouse Wharf Hotel in Port Adelaide, Parliament House and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI).

In the artist’s words these bewildering photographs become ‘a mash up of inside and outside’. ‘The magic of the camera obscura is that it makes us question what we take for granted- the everyday experience is presented upside down and in reverse, mimicking the way an image forms on the retina. In some photographs cars drive over the ceiling and the sky and clouds cover the floor… it’s like being in a movie where you are in the world but removed from it at the same time,’ says Stacey.

Robyn Stacey has presented work in major solo and group exhibitions including the 2016 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Magic Object at the Art Gallery of South Australia, and Robyn Stacey: Cloud Land at the Museum of Brisbane, in 2015. Stacey’s works are held in public collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of Western Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, the New South Wales Historic Houses Trust, the City of Sydney, Anne & Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide and Artbank.

Ray of Light runs till the 7th April at the Millicent Gallery. A live camera obscura will be installed at Millicent Gallery for the duration of the exhibition.