Nicole Welsh: Eastern Interiors

Notions of 'beauty' and 'sublimity' were conjured when encountering the photographic and video work of Nicole Welch. Though it could of been instinctive in the twenty-first century to consign the exceptional picturesque appeal of these works to a mastery of digital manipulation, Welch did not depend on such techniques. Instead, the artist traversed through areas of bushland and located incredible landscapes to create compositions through the use of large-scale projectors, generators, spotlights and research-inspired objects.

As Welch lived and worked in the city of Bathurst, the importance of regional Australia and the surrounding landscape were visually reflected in Nicole's works.

Her elegant photographic images of the Australian landscape celebrated regional centres, as she inserted historical objects into her art that encouraged a consideration of place and time. The inclusion of these objects drew attention to the role of history in what we understood, as well as the importance of contemporary interpretations of historical ideologies.

The inserted historical objects existed as documentations of what was. In contrast, Nicole's cinematic photographs captured a sense of place that related to the present. These works served as a contemporary account of particular landscapes that may eventually transition into historical records for future audiences, as both time and our relationship with our surroundings will inevitably alter and progress.

Developed through the Hill End Artist in Residence Program, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and time spent in Albury in 2015.

The exhibition was presented in partnership with Brenda May Gallery.