Lot 3234

LEONARD JOEL DELIVERY SIZE: LARGE


The opinions expressed in the condition reports are a guide only and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Prospective buyers are encouraged to book a virtual viewing or request further images during our pre-sale period where Leonard Joel staff are available for advice.
Please note condition reports can be amended during the pre-sale period, so we strongly suggest any interested bidders check the published condition report available on the website before the auction commences. Leonard Joel makes no guarantee of the originality of mechanical or applied components. Absence of reference to such modifications does not imply that a lot is free from modifications.

Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne (label verso)

"As if time-travelers from another era, the ghost like figures in Siwes's photographs appear before us like messengers we cannot hear. Indeed, given their persistent Victorian and Edwardian settings, Siwes's photographs recall the spirit photography of these times, in which spirits of the dead called up in seances were photographed for their grieving relatives. However Siwes does not photograph the ghosts of relatives, but the shadowy after-life of history or more accurately, of Siwes's own historical consciousness. Acutely aware of his Aboriginal/Dutch descent and the global migrations and histories it implies, he is burdened by a corrosive (rather than affirmative) history; and this melancholy fate sets the mood of his artworks."

Uncanny: Darren Siwes's Just Is series of photographs, by Ian McLean, 2004