tim olsen drawing prize

Finalist | 15 - 25 August 2018 | AD Space, Sydney

untitled

2018

Lithograph, linocut and pen on paper

Dimensions variable

Image courtesy of Anna Kucera.

Archival and parafictional methodologies manifest themselves in my work as methodologies and techniques fro exploring Sydney’s criminal history and suburban landscape.

The nooks and crannies of Sydney’s inner suburban landscape harbour the secrets of the city’s, offering the opportunity for discovery.

My honours research focuses on the use of archival methodologies to explore inner-Sydney suburban landscapes and histories. The facades of inner-suburban terraces conjure feelings of quaint nostalgia, masking the reality of the city’s criminal history. The practices of drawing and printmaking emulate the historian’s research and discovery process, allowing the artist to piece together the story and construct their own narrative.

 Terraced streets lined with trees, woven through by cobble-stoned lanes and the quaint reminder of a nostalgic history. Today’s experience of Sydney’s inner-suburban landscape offers snippets of a past time, creating a familiar façade for the reality of the city’s violent criminal history. Delving into extensive archives reveals the menacing feud of Kate Leigh and Tilly Devine, and their unrelenting grip on the communities of Razorhurst. Through archival methodologies and techniques of parafiction, the processes of printmaking and drawing seek to emulate the experience of the historian, unravelling the narrative and piecing together the events of a darker time.