Sharon Green

"Drawing on feminist and historical ideology, I am interested in the construction of the female identity in the context of the fallen woman. Through evocative architectural and interior spaces, dramatic still life tableaux and representations of the female figure itself, I examine these ideas visually. Surface quality, texture and detail operate as metaphors and glimpse a personal parallel of the relationships between women and the societies they inhabit.

Historical European architecture and the opulence of the Baroque era provide a rich context for the development of my female characters. Historically, women have been both decorator and decoration. I am investigating the relationship between decoration and female sexuality.

Marks, cracks and other traces of inhabitance and the "past" all suggest an absent presence. These traces accumulated over time form a 'memory' within the space. During the Baroque period, the church played a dominant role in the social construction of female sexuality. Primarily, women were either married or sent to convents. Baroque architecture evident in the convents of the time provide metaphors for the notion of spiritual and physical chastity. Purity and self sacrifice, grilles and archways, I am interested to explore these architectural details as metaphors for the seen and the unseen, the public and the private, the church and the individual.

Narratives in my work portray my interpretation of the history of the Baroque period. The use of narrative allows the viewer to imagine being part of the story or encourages the viewer to feel the restriction of the female body and psyche prevalent in that period. In the series Bind completed in 1999, my work draws from the decorative and the ornate, as well as the confined and restricted. Utilizing a historical methodology I am reconstructing a new reality through my work, a weaving of histories, textures, figures and objects. It's the interactions between these ideas that create my stories."

Sharon Green - 2003

Biography

• Born 1977, Sydney, Lives Brisbane
• 2000 Bachelor of Photography (Honours), Queensland College of Art,
• Griffith University, Brisbane,
• 1998 Bachelor of Photography, QCA Griffith University, Brisbane.

Collections

• Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
• Gold Coast City Art Gallery
• Pat Corrigan Collection
• Gadens Lawyers
• Private & corporate collections in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hong Kong, New Zealand

Solo Exhibitions

• 2006 The Lonely Empire, Metro 5 Gallery
• 2005 It was to become the darkest night, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (October)
• 2005 Seductions, curated by Ray Cook, Queensland Centre for Photography
• 2005 Unfinished Journey, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
• 2005 Dark Silence, Room 35 Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
• 2004 Dark Silence, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne
• 2004 Dark Silence, Metro 5 Gallery, Melbourne
• 2003 Center for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne
• 2002 Soap Box Gallery
• 2001 Work in progress from the Jeleni Studio Residency Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic
• 2000 'Fallen' Magazine Space, Eagle St, Brisbane.
• Selected Group Exhibitions
• 2005 Lectures, Galeria Esther Montoriol, Barcelona, Spain
• 2003 Flashpoint, Metro 5 Gallery, Armadale, Melbourne
• 2002 The Hutchins Art Prize, The Long Gallery, Hobart
• Photo Technica Gallery, Sydney
• 2001 Conrad Jupiters Art Prize, Gold Coast Art Gallery, Gold Coast.
• Soapbox Gallery, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.
• The Judith Wright Center of Contemporary Arts
• 2000 'Looking at yourself looking at yourself', Stratton Gallery, Newstead, Brisbane
• 'Personal Best' Queensland College of art Gallery, Brisbane.
• 'Photo Technica Award for new photo artist of the year' Australian Center for Photography, Sydney.
• 17th Macgregor prize for Photography, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Queensland.
• 1999 'Holding up the Sky', Broadway on the Mall, Brisbane City.
• ‘Blind' QCA Passage Gallery, Morningside, Brisbane.
• 1998 'Lucid', Smith and Stonily, Newstead, Brisbane.
• 1997 'End of Year Clearance' Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane.

Awards and Achievements

• 2005 Finalist 'Descubriementos' competition, Photoespana 2005
• 2001 Recipient of the Jeleni Studio Residency, Center for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic
• 2000 Finalist in the Photo Technica Award for new Photo Artist of the Year Award.
• Special Award', Macgregor Prize for Photography, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba Queensland.
• 1999 First Prize, Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Competition.

Selected Biography

• 2005 'Art of Illusion' by Angela Blackston, The Age, Melbourne
• 2004 'The art of darkness' review by Robert Nelson, The Age, Melbourne
• 2004 'I'm not ok, you're not ok' exhibition catalogue by Kate Rhodes, Assistant Curator of Photography, National Gallery of Victoria
• 2004 Photofile
• 2002 Catalogue essay by Alison Kubler, Jeleni Studio Residency
• 2001 Looking at yourself looking at yourself exhibition catalogue, text by Julie Walsh, Queensland art Gallery
• Review by Edwina Bartleme, Artlink, vol 21 #1, 2001
• Photofile 'Fresh' (emerging artist issue) issue #62, April 2001
• ‘Death Becomes Her', by Felicity Loughrey, Not Only Black + White Magazine.
• ‘Arts to Lunch' David Broker and Anna Marsden, 4zzz Radio Program
• 2000 'Promise', Metro Arts Development Space, Review by Marina Tchnernev
• ‘Glass Ceiling', by Felicity Loughrey, Not Only Black + White Magazine