I have worked on commercial jobs with Australian photographer Alicia Taylor she had hinted at a creative project she was working on… Today I am blown away by these images of ‘Above & Below’ that very creative project she had mentioned.
There is nothing fast about the creative process. Five years ago, Alicia Taylor photographed an incredible storm in Tasmania sparking a desire to use the image as part of an art piece.
“The idea lay dormant until she photographed a woman swimming in Fiji two years ago, and then I decided to merge these images” said Alicia.
For someone who makes a living through the medium of photography she found the leap to creating her own work deeply challenging.
Aware that the ‘fear’, or the ‘desire’ to please another stop us from pushing through our boundaries, Alicia made the mental shift to let go and rely on her intuition. Tuning to something elemental she became aware of how emotion could be communicated through image.
“Life can be volatile just like the weather, hence my using the sky as one of my subjects. Water, on the other hand, can be very calming and by combining with images of people in water a certain tension, a dynamic is created.” Alicia Taylor
Alicia’s work focusses on light and composition, the ability to add colour, depth and creative tension in the positioning of the limbs – sometimes awkward, sometimes fluid and evocative.
Producing this collection of images has pushed her technical abilities as images layer on top of one another to create new dialogues and
relationships between the Australian landscape, sky, seaweed, shadow and the limbs that denote a physical presence.
“It is a remarkable photographic debut drawn out of a desire to marry the different worlds of earth and sky, each with their particular volatilities and energies, merging in a seamless image that finds a link in the human element.” Karen McCartney
In Alicia’s own words, “This series encompasses the complexity that makes the human journey. The change we push through, float, reach or finally ground ourselves in.”
‘Above & Below’ will run from 27th of October to 10th of November at Becker Minty 7/81 MacLeay St, Potts Point NSW 2011
