2015-16

Bedazzle: Photographing Western Australia’s Gold Towns

FORM Gallery
Perth, Australia

Work produced in response to residencies in the Pilbara and the Goldfields with artists Rebecca Dagnall & Theo Costantino

Project curated by Mollie Hewitt and Andrew Nicholls

Bobby Dazzler Photograph by Bewley Shaylor, c/o FORM.
The Golden Eagle,
Phototex wallpaper print, 3 x 2 metres

Bobby Dazzler
Mixed media (inc. EPE foam, sequinned fabric,  thread, artificial eyes, false lashes)

Pilbara Guide

Light box transparency, 1600 x 825 mm

Rock Guardians (1-8),
Giclee Prints, each 12 x 18 inches

Western Australia’s gold mining past provided the inspiration for Bedazzle – Photographing Western Australia’s Gold Towns, a compelling and darkly humorous exploration of the regional gothic. Bedazzle features new work by leading Western Australian artists, Thea Costantino, Rebecca Dagnall, and Tarryn Gill, developed through residencies in Western Australia's Pilbara and Goldfields-Esperance regions during 2015 and 2016.

Costantino, Dagnall, and Gill use the photographic medium to explore and critique Australian nationalism and post-colonial history. For this exhibition the artists have woven a series of darkly humorous narratives around the notion of a culture obsessed with wealth from the ground. They worked in Western Australia’s hottest town, Marble Bar, the iconic gold town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, the eerie ghost town of Gwalia, and the mining communities of Kambalda, Menzies, and Coolgardie.