SAMMY HAWKER

“I wanted to see what would be revealed if I photographed in complete darkness.”
Merilyn Fairskye

In abstract photography, the artist aims to photograph the unphotographable. Featuring work drawn from the permanent collections by past winners and finalists of the Muswellbrook Photographic Awards and Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize, ‘Abstract Photography: From the Muswellbrook Collections’ considers abstraction as a method for revealing what cannot be seen.

From chemical manipulation to recontextualisation, the images have been created using a diverse range of methods and strategies. Through these approaches, each artist transforms their subject to resist easy interpretation, encouraging deeper contemplation and inviting viewers to reflect on the intangible experiences we all share.

This exhibition included Mount Gulaga, 2021 - winner of the 2022 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize and acquired by Muswellbrook Regional Art Centre.

Mount Gulaga, 2021: This image is a 4x5 photographic negative processed with ocean water - created on while standing on Murunna Point looking out towards Mount Gulaga (Yuin Nation). When processing film with ocean water the corrosive properties lifts the silver emulsion and the representational image is rendered vague. However an essence of the site is introduced to the frame as the vibrant matter paints its way onto the negative. It is reminiscent of a birds eye view of waves crashing onto a shore & also the swirl of an outer solar system dotted with distinctive cross-shaped stars. A ghost of the mountain looms behind the abstraction - felt rather than seen.

Interestingly this work won the 2022 Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize after repeatedly appearing in the judge (Bill Bachmann’s dreams) - in the awards speech Bill said “...I have dreamt about this image several times since I first saw it as a small jpeg digitally and more than once woke up thinking about this image. Obviously it got under my skin in some way. I think this image typifies the kind of experimental work we are looking for with this prize. It is archaic and innovative at the same time and the resulting image is so far from the literal it is almost unreadable, yet it has beauty and material integrity that is entirely of the place it is captured.”