Au at Mint Gallery
Au. Murray Eskdale and Tara Douglas (with Ben Webb). 5th September – 18th September. Mint Gallery. Au is a selection of new photographic works by Murray Eskdale and Tara Douglas. Both are Dunedin based artists who have presented their individual bodies of work on opposite sides of the gallery in a very conventional and accessible manner. A photographic installation by Webb exists in between these works on the floor. Although consistently overlooked, one felt most drawn to this work. Eskdale presented a highly cohesive series of urban landscapes taken in Shanghai. These works were inherently reflective, both in subject matter and the clever way in which these works occupied the space. This is not merely in terms of interaction with these works within the gallery, but also the space outside the gallery; the surrounding environment. Offering a documentarian approach to an unfamiliar space and a mediation perhaps upon globalisation, these images lacked a nuanced socio-cultural understanding of both site and photography. Pertinent, as photography is embedded with what it reveals, something inherently ‘cultural’. Witnessing Douglas …