Photographic, Video and Digital Images

This is the first year the course has been offered to Year 12 students at St Pius X College. A small group of students set a strong standard and we are proud to display a selection of their works as part of the Splinters, Splashes, Sounds and Stage Spectacular. Brief insights into their works show the diversity of their interests in PVDI where the aim is for students to develop their own photographic practice.

James Regan

Experimenting with Photoshop has been a constant in these works which are taken from projects the artist has worked on since 2020. His first series of landscapes with figures play with perspective and reshuffle as if from memory. James photographs and thinks about things he sees in his daily experiences of suburbia. His series of Street signs explores thoughts about rules and the acceptance of social conventions. He has also used the world of virtual images to develop ideas for works and his multi layered views pose questions about images and collective memory.

View James's Collection Here

Mitchell Hayes

Since exploring light sensitive materials in the photography darkroom, Mitchell has followed his interest in the Cyanotype process. From his growing collection of photographs he selects and transfers into transparencies, images which can then be used to make cyanotype prints. In some cases these are scanned back into digital form where they can be further adjusted and the cycle can continue.

The indigo of the cyanotype is referred to in a series of tattoo works where images of the human form from different times and cultures are combined. The unhidden adjustments suggest an acceptance of change rather than a wish to suppress new attitudes in the way we see ourselves.

View Mitchell's Collection Here

Kevork Tatarian

Photography is primarily a study of light and Kevork’s interest in two artists who explore light have particularly informed his work this year. The immersive works of James Turrell and Hiroshi Sugimoto’s reconstruction of Newton’s light and colour experiments inspired Kevork to make his own investigations of the sky. Amazingly the variety of blues have come from pictures randomly taken of the sky. A camera set on timer in a backpack made the recordings while the artist walked. This led to a series of studies from a skylight where a simple record of different light conditions have been made. The minimal nature of all these works creates a quiet, reflective opportunity.

View Kevork's Collection Here

Zac Rec

A picture on a wall simulates a window to another place, a beach perhaps or a mountain scene, either way an offering to something other. These works are obviously not like that. These are studies of windows and light. They quietly reflect interiors and play on the idea of the camera as a room with the lens its window. The camera collects light like windows do to feed an interior. The paradox is that we then fix that image and put it on a wall in another interior to create a window.

View Zac's Collection Here

Ben Kafer

The tranquil and spectacular are combined in these photographs to create an interesting tension. The contrast of fire and water, smoke and clarity, chaos and calm are as much psychological states as physical ones. We are fascinated by the chaos and at times wonder what it would be like to be that fury, to run wild. For now, the fire is distant as the water provides a safe barrier. We inch closer but know we can’t have both.