Research: Ava Seymour. (DT WK 3)

Ava Seymour's photographs have been the subject of controversy since she first began exhibiting them in the early 1990's, with the figures seemingly dislocated from the world. Ava Seymour's images are collaged, put together, either using photoshop or other methods to combine one photograph with another. Her satire-like images in 'health, happiness and housing' may be read variously as family portraits, as a social document of unseen alienation and disenfranchisement within communities, as an exaggeration of the condition of the welfare system, or even as a strategy for augmenting the issue of mental health within a humorous context. But, Ava Seymour has not said what the images actually mean and for that reason, the viewer is left to guess what the meaning behind the photograph actually is.

New Zealand b.1967 | Bandy candy (from 'Health, happiness and housing' series) 1997, printed 2007 | Digital colour photograph, ed. of 5 | 73.5 x 92cm 

 

 

Day Care Walkabouts, 1997.

The images are in colour, while the figures remain in black and white. The mix of the two mediums is unusual, but it gives a little depth to the photograph, the figures are set apart, layered on, they look like they aren't meant to be there. The backgrounds themselves aren't anything interesting, but layering on the flat figures makes the images a little more interesting. There is no dialogue or explanation for these photographs, the viewer is left to decide what is going on. The images show originality, they're different and set themselves a part from other photographers of this time. Truthfully, they're not my kind of images, a background that is more appealing would suit me better, but if these have meanings that only the artist truly knows then all the better.