PETA CLANCY ‘Working Title: Studio Practice in the RMIT Art Collection’ at RMIT Gallery

May 15, 2024

Peta Clancy’s work ‘Fissures in Time 2’ will be featured in the group show ‘Working Title: Studio Practice in the RMIT Art Collection’ at the RMIT Gallery from 30.05.24 – 27.07.24. The exhibition unearths a rich history of studio practice at RMIT, revealing notable academics, alumni, methods and collaborations across collecting legacies over the past century.

On her work, the artist says: “Fissures in time was created over an extended period of time in several locations in the Victorian landscape. Wandering through the landscape, with my large format camera taking photographs at different times of the day and under varying weather conditions. Drawing on memories of the landscapes I spent time in as a child. Informed by my research into the Massacre Map of Victoria, which identifies sites where settler massacres occurred from 1836–53. The research and the silence surrounding the knowledge of massacres have deeply affected my relationship to the landscape in Victoria. After photographing a site, I return to install a large print on a custom-built frame in front of the exact same landscape. Cutting into the photographic paper to reveal sections of the scene behind before rephotographing the scene. The photographic process of scarring highlights the relationship between the real and the perceived and challenges the viewer to question what it is they are focussing on and what they may not have perceived.”

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Image caption: Peta Clancy, ‘Fissures In Time 2’, 2017, inkjet pigment prints