Kate Ballis. The series considers the myth of Cailleach who created the mountains with fire and carved them with ice, and depicts this with blood like feminine forms.
LIMINALITY was photographed on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, using a converted full spectrum camera and an infrared filter, which shows the health of plants, thriving on the misty Isle. The series reinstates Scotland’s mythological fairies as a statuesque powerful goddesses, rather than the diminutive fairies that were later written into stories such as A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the 1500s. The series considers the myth of Cailleach who created the mountains with fire and carved them with ice, and depicts this with blood like feminine forms.
It is said that the mountaintops, streams and glens depicted in this series, are liminal places where people can still commune with the fairies. Here, in these liminal places, the far and near fold into each other, so that time creases and overlaps. These photographs, call on us to consider the spaces where time bends, and warps, where borders pucker. Where the line between the near and far wears thin, like a thinning cloud.
Accompanying poetry to follow by Sophie Hardcastle
Head On at 107 draws together 8 photographic artists. The series have been selected to sit together yet stand apart, representing different approaches. The curatorial process gives equal weight to each artist’s work and unifies the exhibition space. The artists collaborate on installation, promotion and social media, supporting each other through the process of exhibition.
Artists: Allan Coker, Christine Ansorge, Fiona Ruck, Francis Minien, Kate Ballis, Kelly Slater, Natalia Mroz, Suzan Pektas.
Curator: Sandy Edwards
Kate Ballis is a Melbourne-based fine art photographer creating unique, colour-drenched images using infrared technology. Seeing the unseen through this technological lens Ballis finds a foreign otherworldly quality in familiar landscapes and scenes. Ballis released Infra Realism with Manuscript Publishing in 2017 profiling her photographs journeying through Palm Springs and Joshua Tree in California. Her work has been exhibited throughout Melbourne, Sydney, Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Miami, and at various art fairs across Europe.
She is represented by Arthouse Gallery (www.arthousegallery.com.au) in Sydney and Gallerysmith (www.gallerysmith.com.au) in Melbourne.
Kate Ballis website: www.kateballis.com
Submit your work to be considered for solo or group exhibitions in Head On Photo Festival.
Enthralling. Enchanting. Extraordinary. Discover exceptional photography for free around Sydney during the festival 8 Nov–1 Dec 2024
