TAFE NSW presents the Diploma of Photography graduate candidate exhibition, Semester 2, 2024.
Exhibition title: PERSONA: portraits and beyond...
Persona, the Latin word for mask, describes the partial concealment of ourselves, whilst simultaneously revealing other qualities. Photographic portraiture also selectively reveals a depiction of a person, a place or a society. Does a portrait unveil the mask or are we presented with the mask?
The first known photograph of a human was captured in 1838 by French Artist and Photographer Louis Daguerre. The image reveals a shoe shiner working along the Boulevard du Temple in Paris. The silhouette was captured using a seven-minute exposure. This meant that the shoe shiner remained stationary whilst other people, present in the image, moved too quickly for their profiles to be recorded on the light-sensitive film. The shoe shiner’s presence in the image contributes to a portrait of Parisian life in the late nineteenth century.
A year later the first photographic selfie was taken by American Photographer Robert Cornelius. He captured his own head and shoulders, whilst wearing noble clothing, suggesting his position within society. The desire to reveal or conceal representations of ourselves may be intuitive and impulsive.
This exhibition curated by the TAFE NSW Diploma of Photography graduate candidates explores a variety of personas, portraits and beyond.
Exhibiting Photographers include:
Dom Beckett, Jett Hanna, Rano Ibragimova, Finlay Kerswell and Raven Solomon.
Exhibition details:
The Muse, 651 Harris Street, Ultimo, NSW 2007.
Opening night: November 22nd, 6pm - 8pm
Opening hours: November 23-27, 10am - 4pm.