We have had a rolling call out for photo and video submissions from our creative community for inclusion in Head On Interactional. Thank you to everyone who submitted; we received too many to feature all our favourites in this first edition. Here are our top picks. Please keep them coming for future editions. Submit your photographic projects or videos here.
Tony Reddrop @tonyreddrop
4410
Street photographer Tony Reddrop, originally from Melbourne, now lives in a small rural town in the North Island of New Zealand. He started photography in 2000, initially working for suburban newspapers as a freelancer. His passion is street, documentary and portrait photography, particularly long-term personal projects. He has exhibited in solo and group shows in Australia, New Zealand, China, the USA and Europe, and his work is in various national and state collections in Australia. He has been a member of the Videre Collective since 2019.
This series entitled 4410 is taken in Palmerston North in New Zealand’s lower North Island. It has a population of only about 100,000. The idea behind the images is to show that no matter where you live, there is always something visually interesting.
Serena Dzenis @serenavsworld
2021 ± II: Utopia Broadcasting
Serena Dzenis is a lens-based artist from Australia who resides in Iceland. She uses her work to tell stories about science, conservation, environmental issues and the future of humankind. Serena’s photographs depart from the traditional, focusing on capturing the otherworldliness that is sometimes associated with nature and human constructions on our planet. The emphasis of her art is on storytelling within the landscape – connecting with the land and exploring the outcomes of human desires while immersing oneself in the rhythms and dangers associated with the living presence of this world.
Humankind is leaving a profound legacy on Earth, turning it into the paradise that we want it to be or perhaps farewelling a paradise that we’ve already lost. 2021 ± II: Utopia Broadcasting encapsulates everything about human construction, sheer curiosity, consumerism, as well as the wonders and dangers associated with science. Existing structures within the Icelandic landscape are used to transport the viewer’s imagination to another world that exists outside of time. In doing so, the hope is to invoke conversation around themes of futurism and dreams for a better life amidst the darker side of human ideals.
Alyson Bell
The Twilight Hour
Alyson Bell works primarily in installation, digital media, video and the moving image, centring around a spiritual connection to place, though often delving into and exploring darker interior and transformational themes. Her background as a filmmaker and art director greatly inform her artworks, which have been exhibited over the last few years at Bundanon Siteworks Festival, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, and various group exhibitions.
In early 2020 I travelled through a landscape of blackened forest in the aftermath of the NSW South Coast bushfires. As day turned to night, it felt like the end of the world as kilometre upon kilometre of burnt forest provoked a stark reminder of the effects of climate change. In making this artwork, The Twilight Hour, I wanted to convey a sense of nature’s beauty juxtaposed with humanity’s incessant path of destruction. Now we have reached a crisis point in time, and in this ‘twilight hour,’ we have just the smallest window of opportunity in which to act.
Leslie Shang Zhefeng @leslieshang_
Cypress Slope and My Time
Photographer Leslie Shang Zhefeng was born in Baoji, Shaanxi, China in 1991, and currently lives and works in Shanghai-Xi’an. He has been paying attention to Chinese social issues, the relationship between man and architecture, urban public space, population mobility, natural environment and ecology. His work explores the study of self-identity and family history. Published by INDIE and Conceptual Projects magazine, in 2020, he completed the long-term project Chinese Scenery – Shanghai Scenery and Cypress Slope, a hometown project about his family origin and history. His latest series My Time is a metaphor for the current situation in China.
Cypress Slope is a project with the same name as my hometown. It was photographed in 2020 and presents my family origins by collecting information in Baoji, Shaanxi, a rural village in western China. The story of our four generations tells the identity of ordinary Chinese families in modern times.
Images from My Time series. The novel Coronavirus outbreak in 2020 in Wuhan, China, has affected the political economy and the way of life of all countries in the world. New China was founded in 1949. Since then, China seems to be back in the Era of the Cultural Revolution. Therefore, I began to collect historical photos related to the Mao era to connect current events across time and metaphorise the current situation of China through self-portraits, imitation and video stitching.
Photographers/Artists
Tony Reddrop @tonyreddrop
Serena Dzenis @serenavsworld
Alyson Bell http://www.alysonbell-visualartist.com.au
Leslie Shang Zhefeng @leslieshang_
