Ryley Clarke presents Off the Well-Worn Path, a solo exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs as part of the gallery’s 2023 program.
Melbourne’s fortyfivedownstairs presents Off the Well-Worn Path, a new exhibition by Ryley Clarke opening on 21 February 2023. A photographic exhibition observing the relationship of the human condition, time, family and place, Off the Well-Worn Path seeks to connect the past and present through inheritance and regeneration. The body of work narrates an open dialogue that seeks to exchange the ever-increasing tension internally and externally of a childhood home, losing its relationship with its kin. Yet through time and experience, finding solitude and healing.
When Ryley’s mother sold their childhood home, it was an overwhelming and exhausting journey to clear the place. Originally built by Ryley’s Great-Grandfather and Great-Grandmother, over time it quietly decayed away. Once loved, the dust took over. Books, unopened boxes, and hoarded objects filled the rooms and hallways.
Restoring a place that is filled with so many memories, bright and dark, melancholic and vibrant, tested the artist’s mother’s perseverance. Despite that, and in the midst of a pandemic, the devotion Ryley witnessed during this process brought to light profound feelings of admiration for the strength and love that shone in the most trying of times. His pride is evident in the intimacy and introspectiveness of his photography.
Throughout the years they spent working on clearing the rooms bit by bit, the artist occasionally pulled out his camera to make photographs of the ever-precarious moments that symbolised the end of its journey for his mother and for their family. Focusing on the process, transformation and experience of clearing and restoring the childhood home, we encounter familial possessions once thought lost and reminisce about moments from here and there.
Ryley Clarke’s analogue techniques combined with his deep sensitivity to the subject matter imbue his work with a truly distinctive and human feel, evoking fond memory, nostalgia that create for the viewer pure moments for contemplation.
More information: fortyfivedownstairs
More exhibitions: HERE
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