James Tylor: Turrangka... In The Shadows

James Tylor is a leading Australian artist whose practice examines histories of colonisation and their profound impact on Indigenous cultures and their relationship to place and spirituality. This approach to the loss of Indigenous cultural identity is informed by his heritage that comprises Nunga (Kaurna Miyurna), Māori (Te Arawa) and European (English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch and Norwegian) ancestry.

This survey exhibition brings together ten years of practice and key examples of his acclaimed daguerreotype and digital photographs in installations that incorporate the artist’s handmade objects and wall treatments. Together the works speak to the Australian environment, culture, and social history through experimental photographic processes and the remaking of Kaurna cultural design.

Since 2013, Tylor has explored experimental and historical photographic processes. He uses a hybrid of analogue and digital photographic techniques to create contemporary artworks referencing Australian society and history. His methods include the physical manipulation of digital photographic printing, such as manual hand-colouring or physical interventions to the surfaces of images through tearing and scratching. James also uses the 19th-century photographic process of the Becquerel Daguerreotype with the aid of technology to create new and contemporary Daguerreotypes. Tylor is interested in these unique photographic processes to re-contextualise the representation of Australian society and history and the medium’s use to document Aboriginal culture and the European colonisation of Australia. In recent works, he has also created hybrid versions of tools, shelters, and other significant objects that reflect his extensive work in bringing together oral histories and archival research on Kaurna cultural practices.

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Curator: Leigh Robb

A UNSW Galleries touring exhibition. Presented at Centre for Contemporary Photography, 22 September – 17 November 2023. Publication developed with the generous support of Vivien Anderson Gallery

Banner and Tile Image: James Tylor, 'Turalayinthi Yarta (Nukuna)' 2017. Photograph with ochre. Image courtesy the artist.