Shimmer
Gerwyn Davies
- Sitter: Alfie
- Medium: Photograph
- Dimensions: 90cm x 110cm
- Representation: Jan Murphy Gallery Brisbane and Michael Reid Galleries Sydney/Berlin
- Categories: Digital or photographic artwork
About the artwork
This vivid portrait features a sitter known simply as ‘Alfie’. Alfie is one of the participants in Shimmer, a project commissioned for the Museum of Brisbane working with trans and gender diverse young people from Brisbane’s Open Doors Youth Service. Led by artist Gerwyn Davies, participants were guided through a series of costume making workshops, during which they designed and built their own sculptural costumes that would dramatically transform their figures.
The costume Alfie wears is entirely his own construction. His face is not visible, yet his presence is commanding: the stance broad, the costume dramatic, the gaze replaced by pure embodiment. The portrait is simultaneously hypervisible and hidden, exploring the powers and pleasures of queer visibility at a time when queer people face increased global scrutiny. The project aims to spark joy, awe and wonder.
About the artist
Gerwyn Davies is a queer artist working across photography, costume, textiles and video, living and working on Gadigal and Yuin Country of Sydney and the South Coast of NSW. A graduate of Queensland College of Art and PhD graduate at the University of New South Wales, now a member of the academic staff, lecturing across photomedia at UNSW.
