From Sharne Wolff…
The notion of authenticity in the stories of Australia’s natural history has been the concern of emerging artist Caitlin Casey’s practice to date. On graduating from the National Art School last year, Casey’s body of photographs probed her findings about the young Charles Darwin’s nineteenth century expedition from Sydney to Bathurst. The inspiration for this exhibition came from her recent discovery that Australia’s highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko (previously known by it’s anglicised name, Kosciusko), swapped names with the nearby Mount Townsend – actually the higher of the two peaks.
Casey’s first solo show comprises thirteen photographs. Multiple black and white images drawn from the digital archives of the State Library have been uploaded, downloaded, manipulated and overlapped with original colour photographs taken by Casey in the Kosciuszko region. Despite their somewhat convincing appearance, the eventual landscapes are completely artificial. We already know that the act of photography stretches the truth. Without making any secret of doing so, Casey’s work both exposes the idea of the fake and simultaneously adds a further layer of critique. Acting as a visual historiography her images critically examine the flux and mutation of truth as it’s absorbed into our histories.
Until October 22
Robin Gibson Gallery, Darlinghurst
Pic: Caitlin Casey, Fracture No. 3 (Kosciuszko/Kosciusko) C-Type print, edition of 3, 30 x 42cm. Courtesy the artist and Robin Gibson Gallery.
