Down in the dumps by Glenn Sloggett
If Glenn Sloggett’s artwork were music, it would be in the Minor key. It would be an album full of B-sides, without any hits. The charm has to creep up on you. As it is, his chosen medium is photography and his ‘genre’ if that’s the right word for it, is street photography. After all, shabby pavements and roadsides do feature repeatedly in Sloggett’s work, but this is not your average street photography. For starters, he works with a square format (an old twin lens reflex) and shoots sparingly on film. He makes a roll last a while, partly because he has honed his eye and goes out knowing what he wants, and partly because he’s not rolling in cash.
Down in the dumps continues Sloggetts long-term love-affair with the unloved and the unloveable. One of the things that distinguishes his oeuvre is the sheer, single-minded clarity and persistence with which he has approached his work. For over 20 years he has elevated the burnt out and banal into something to be seen and celebrated, or at least acknowledged. He seeks out what most of us rush by or turn away from, as his image titles suggest - Xmas dumping, Discarded flowers, Trackside lilies (popular suicide spot), The blob, Pokies car park, and One dark night.
Opening night: Wednesday 15 March, 6-8pm
