Prisoner of Comfort, 2019
Archival pigment print on fibre rag
135 x 90 cm



Dark Matter, 2019
Archival pigment print on fibre rag
90 x 135 cm (unframed)



Underworld, 2019
Archival pigment print on fibre rag
90 x 135 cm (unframed)



As The World Falls Down #2
Archival Pigment Prints on Fibre Rag
135 x 90 cm unframed



ANJA #25
Archival Pigment Prints on Fibre Rag
90 x 135 cm unframed



As The World Falls Down #4
Archival Pigment Prints on Fibre Rag
90 x 135 cm unframed



ANJA #25
Archival Pigment Prints on Fibre Rag
135 x 90 cm unframed



Dress & War

Archival Pigment Prints on Fibre Rag



135 x 90
cm unframed



ANJA #30
Archival Pigment Prints on Fibre Rag
90 x 135 cm unframed



SANCTUARY, 2018
Archival Pigment Print on Cotton Rag
Limited edition of 8 + 2 AP
73.3 x 110 cm



Utero, 2018
Archival Pigment Print on Cotton Rag
Limited edition of 8 + 2 AP
73.3 x 110 cm



Lilli Waters



“At dusk and dawn, the edge of slumber and first light, these figures awaken out of the darkness and live in the hours when others dream.” – Lilli Waters, 2018.


There is something both strange and striking about images made by Melbourne based photographer, Lilli Waters. The figures, almost exclusively female, are placed in peculiar positions within equally strange landscapes. The figure from “Utero” (pictured below), emerges from a red liquid, washed ashore an almost mythical land. The figure is beginning to stir, hinted at masterfully by the ripples in the water. This, coupled with the dissonant color combination of pale white and an artificial red, imbues the photograph with a sense of trepidation. There is also certainly a parallel between the nascent subject matter and the act of creation on the part of the artist. The palette is even reminiscent of a photographer’s dark room.


Waters' emphasis on nature comes from her mother and grandmother, as well as an upbringing on a counterculture commune in Wytaliba, NSW. “She (Elaine Moir, grandmother) was a serious lover of the environment, writing letters and starting campaigns to stop McDonalds from taking over her local community, teaching me the names of all the birds and animal species and the importance of planting trees and helping on creek clean up days.” Waters’ subjects certainly appear to have a symbiotic, if somewhat uneasy, relationship with their environment. They are born of the earth, appearing in the landscape like a blooming flower. It is often unclear, however, whether the subject is thriving in the landscape, or succumbing to it.


Waters photographs many of her figures in a transitional pose, instilling a sense of anticipation in the viewer; in “Utero” the figure slowly begins to stir and in “ANJA #25” (pictured below), a female form writhes beneath a thin veil amidst a dark abyss. Accentuating this suspense is also Waters decision to shoot at dawn and dusk, when the sun is on the precipice of either being snuffed out, or of bursting forth from the horizon line. This perhaps symbolizes one of the overarching themes in Waters oeuvre, the constant push and pull between life and death, creation and decay.


Lilli Waters is a Melbourne based photographer. Her work has been exhibited in a variety of exhibitions and art awards, including the Australian Photography Awards (2018), the National Still Life Award (2017) and the Venice Biennale (2017 and 2019), amongst others.


Words by Julius Killerby.



Selected Solo Exhibition


2019

Solo Show, Metro Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

Others Dream, Modern Times, Melbourne, VIC

Things of Fire and Ash Remembered, Melbourne Museum, VIC


2018

Coral Lands, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney, NSW


2017

Plastic Fish, Junior Space, Melbourne, VIC


2015

Anja, Red Gallery, Melbourne, VIC


2013

Things of Fire and Ash, Victoria Police Museum, Melbourne, VIC, touring Nationally


2012

She Raw, Edmund Pearce Gallery, Melbourne, VIC

She Raw, Blak Dot Gallery, Melbourne, VIC


Selected Recent Group Shows



2019

National Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, NSW, touring Nationally

Fifty Squared Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery


2018

PCP Collective, Perth Centre for Photography

ILFORD CCP Salon, Contemporary Centre of Photography

Summer Group Exhibition, Metro Gallery

The Luxury of Landscape, Pilazzo Pandolfini, Tuscany, Italy

The Last Line of Defence, Besser Space, Melbourne

Candyland for CanTeen Art Auction, NAB Graduate Fundraiser, Melbourne

Hyper, 222 Roslyn Gallery, Melbourne

Contemporary Art Awards Finalists, online group exhibition

STILL, National Still Life Award, Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery, NSW


2017

Click 17 Photographic Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery

Her Way, 5 Rankins Lane Gallery, Melbourne


2016

BlümchenSex, Palmengarten, Frankfurt, Germany

Phantom Paradise, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney


2015

Keeping Company: Saltwater, Manly Art Gallery, Sydney Unreal, Head On Photo Festival, M2 Gallery, Sydney

ANJA Pop-Up Exhibition, Leonard St, Melbourne


2014

Finalists, Head On Photo Festival, Sydney


2013

Stockroom, Carbon Black Gallery, Melbourne

Art in Mind, The Brick Lane Gallery, London

Head On Photo Festival, State Library of NSW

The Kinglake Project, The Cube Gallery, Melbourne


2012

SUB 1000, Carbon Black Gallery, Melbourne

Kodak Salon, CCP, Melbourne

Doug Moran House Contemporary Photographic Exhibition, NSW, touring Nationally


2011

The Collective, Off The Kerb Gallery, Melbourne


2010

Snapshot 10/10, Carbon Black Gallery, Melbourne




Awards and Prizes


2019

Finalist, National Photographic Portrait Prize


2018

Finalist, Australian Photography Awards

Finalist, Art Aesthetica Art Prize, UK


2017

Finalist, Contemporary Art Awards

Top rated entries, Lens Culture Portrait Awards

Finalist, National Still Life Award

Finalist, Click 17 Photographic Art Prize, Brunswick St Gallery

Semi-Finalist, Head On Portrait Prize, Museum of Sydney


2015

Semi-Finalist, Head On Portrait Prize, Museum of Sydney

Top rated entries, Lens Culture Portrait Awards


2013

Finalist, Head On Portrait Prize

Highly Commended, Qantas Soya Award


2012

Highly Commended, Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize

Semi-Finalist x 2, Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize

Highly Commended, Qantas Soya Award


2011

Winner, She Raw Focus Project People's Choice


2003

Best Photographic Folio, Photographic Imaging College


2001

Atom Awards, Finalist, Senior Secondary Music Video Diegesis Award, Winner of Secondary Music Video



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