prior winner of the Centre for Contemporary Photography’s Documentary Award, Georgia Metaxas’ forthcoming exhibition continues the artist’s fascination with presenting subjects at the fringes of the community, exploring their rituals and way of life. Metaxas has won several awards across Australia and has presented numerous solo shows in Melbourne and interstate. Her work is held in both public and private collections including the La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria, The Supreme Court of Victoria and Monash Gallery of Art among others.

In The Mourners, she presents a series of portraits documenting the ritual of wearing black as a signifier for perpetual mourning. The women presented in these portraits have chosen to wear black for the rest of their lives. The portraits were taken in the confines of a travelling studio, with the sitter photographed against a black backdrop, eyes averted, buried in their own state of remembrance.

It makes for an interesting and important documentation of this traditional cultural ritual, often discarded in modern times. Metaxas’ The Mourners is a powerful momento mori for viewer and sitter alike.

The Mourners opens on Friday June 17 and runs until August 7, Gallery Four, CCP.

metaxasphotography.com.au
ccp.org.au