Hotshoe Photofusion Award 2010 winner is Odette England for As Above, So Below

The winner of the inaugral Hotshoe Photofusion Award chosen from 14 selected works in the Annual Members Photo Show 2010 is Odette England for her series, As Above, So Below.

All photos © Odette England, courtesy of the artist.

FROM THE ARTIST’S STATEMENT
Odette England’s work deals with meditations on identity and time, as well as the themes of personal and historical memory. She explores how we perceive memory and how little we understand about its intimate relationship to location, mood and geographical limits.

As Above So Below
“This series marks a study of geography, belief systems and the natural flows of nature. The significance of the phrase ‘as above, so below’ is that it is one that indigenous cultures live by: a belief that the heavens and the earth are the foundation of all creatures, including themselves.

“Land and sky are more than just geographical icons; they are mirrors in which they see themselves reflected.

“The images document the vast desert landscape of Southern Australia – a traditional home of indigenous peoples – from directly above and below a single standing point, brought together as a double exposure. I combine what otherwise exists separately, to explore the significance of primal ‘middle ground’ where humankind resides.

“The series was made during an Artist Research Residency: I was appointed as a Visiting Fellow by the University of New South Wales, to live and work at the Arid Zone Research Station of the Imaging the Land Research Institute (ILIRI) from May-June 2009. ILIRI is Australia’s only research institute concerned with artistic interpretation of the science of land.”

The following clip was filmed last night at the Photofusion Annual Members Photo Show 2010 private view and Xmas party.

Photofusion gallery coordinator, Carole Evans, and co-curator AMPS 2010 and board member, Adrian Wood, talk about the idea for the AMPS show, (now in its second year), the selection of the work and diversity of photographic practice and work produced by Photofusion members. The clip is under 5 mins long.

I announced the winner last night after viewing the images in the show and the selected entries at home on my computer. I’ll blog on my my judging process in a later post as I am bushwhacked today. Till then, I leave you with Carole and Adrian from Photofusion.