Hold still
the photographic performance
Darren Sylvester All you need to know you knew early 2007, Art Gallery of New South Wales © Darren Sylvester
Examines the way a camera turns any subject into a performer and any scenario into a theatrical act
Hold still deconstructs the gestures we habitually adopt while looking into a lens and proposes that the instant of capture is itself a performance. Attentive to the way the camera serves as a silent choreographer – dictating our movements – the exhibition presents incisive commentary about the way photography pervades contemporary life.
Drawn from the Gallery’s collection, it features artists who exploit and exaggerate the posture (or imposture) of the portrait sitter, including works by Taryn Simon, Darren Sylvester, Anne Ferran, Cherine Fahd, Max Dupain and Harold Cazneaux alongside those produced by commercial photographers in the late 19th century.