Presence by Olivia Siddaway

Description

Decayed, discarded, and disintegrating. Why are we as human beings so intrigued by objects and places that have been neglected, abandoned, and forgotten. What is it that draws us to crumbling buildings filled with rusted and rotting objects that are a stagnant reminder of a passage of time. “Breathe” is a series of argyrotype photographic prints that captures and preserves a brief moment from a locations journey towards total decay, a destruction of not just form but memory held within the essence of a place. Each image returning these places and objects into the spotlight with the argyrotype alternative photographic process enhancing the textural beauty of the subject matter. The goal isn’t necessarily to seal its fate, taking a morbid glimpse at its decayed corpse, but to revel in the life it housed and the stories it gathered. A last breathing of life into a space being reclaimed by the world, the earth itself crushing the structure back into the dirt from which it came, slowly fading away from ever existing. Can you hear the whispers through the peeling paint, rusted hardware, and piles of rubble? If only they could talk.

Olivia Siddaway

Artist Bio
Olivia Siddaway is a Melbourne-based artist exploring the intersection between traditional photographic processes and contemporary mixed media techniques. She focuses on subject matter that explores empty spaces, natural textures, anthropomorphic aspects of objects, and the debris of human life. Using historical methods to produce imagery with ultraviolet light on different surfaces, Olivia employs a monochromatic palette to convey complex emotive content.

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