Pat Brassington: The Secret
Pat Brassington: By the Way
Pat Brassington
Devonport Regional Gallery will present a survey of works by leading Australian photobased
artist Pat Brassington from 4 October – 2 November.
Curated by Juliana Engberg, Artistic Director of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, the
exhibition brings together several significant works from Brassington’s exceptional 30 year
career.
Pat Brassington was one of the first artists to recognise the potential of the digital format, and
has used it to create an enormous body of work – images that are hauntingly beautiful, deeply
psychological, and sometimes disturbing. Her works reference the tradition of surrealist
photography. Recurring motifs usually include interior and domestic spaces and strange bodily
mutations that take place within the human, predominantly female, form. The manipulation of
the image is restrained, but the effect often uncanny and dramatic.
The exhibition title is inspired by the banned 1884 French novel of the same name, which in
English translates as ‘against nature’ or ‘against the grain’, and the exhibition was first shown as
part of ACCA’s Influential Australian Artist Series, which celebrates the works of artists who have
made a significant contribution to the history of Australian art practice.
Brassington was born in 1942 in Tasmania, and studied printmaking and photography at the
Tasmanian School of Art in the early eighties. She has exhibited in a number of group exhibitions
including Feminism never happened, IMA, Brisbane (2010), On Reason and Emotion, Biennale of
Sydney (2004) and in solo exhibitions at Art One Gallery, Melbourne, Monash University Museum
of Art and Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne.
The Gallery will offer a range of programs and events to coincide with the exhibition, including
school holiday workshops for 8 to 12 year olds; a Torchlight Tour; and floor talks for High School,
College and University students.
An Australian Centre for Contemporary Art touring exhibition. This project has been assisted by the
Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Pat Brassington: À Rebours
4 October – 2 November, Opening Friday 3 October, 6 pm
School Holiday Workshop: Real Surreal
Monday 6 October, 10am – 12pm or 2pm – 4pm
$15/$10 members – booking essential: phone 6424 8296
Torchlight Tour
Friday 10 October, 8pm
BYO torch
Pat Brassington, By the Way, 2010, pigment print
All images courtesy the artist, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne and Stills Gallery, Sydney
Devonport PO Box 604 Devonport 7310 T. 03 6424 8296 [email protected]
Regional Gallery 45–47 Stewart St. Tasmania Australia F. 03 6423 5305 devonportgallery.com
Devonport Regional Art Gallery
