Home is where the heart is – or is it? Rachael Ireland’s new solo photographic exhibitThe Roomdeals with the difficulties of defining home. We caught five with Ireland to discuss her work.
The Room explores the spaces of house, home and country – but where’s home for you?
At the moment I call a little apartment in Rushcutters Bay home, and while I feel very at home when I’m on my lounge surrounded by my belongings, being in Sydney doesn’t feel like home. For me it has something to do with place as well and I still think of home as the place that I grew up in, which is Taree. I love the way home can be used to talk about where we live, or where we feel a sense of belonging, or where we come from.
Can you tell us more about your history as an artist and photographer?
As a student I always worked with a digital camera, but wanted to use it as if it was analogue to do things such as double or long exposures. This is how I came to use projections – I was willing to try anything to avoid using Photoshop as I didn’t like the idea of spending hours at a computer to construct an image.
What technical processes give your photography its distinct look?
I like to play around with the technical process and be surprised by unexpected possibilities when creating my work, so each series is generally shot a little differently; it is always in an attempt to create layered imagery though. For the work in The Room I used a mixture of double exposure and projections of slides to combine scenes from my travels with the interior of my home.
What is it about the human condition that means we’re always in search of a place to call home?
For me a place to call home is connected with my sense of self and identity at a personal level and within a community. A home becomes a home because we fill it with things that reflect something of who we are, but it is also feeling connected with place and people around you too – maybe that they also reflect some aspect of self.
The RoomatGallery Red, Glebe fromFriday July 25 until Tuesday August 12.
