Cultural Development Consulting

~

~

“Photography’s ability to both create and corrupt

the process of seduction and consumption

is of endless interest to me.”

                                                             Petrina Hicks

~

Despite what you read as a child, beauty is not always good. Despite what you dreamed in adolescence seduction does not always lead to pleasure. And despite what you hope for in adulthood, pleasure does not always bring happiness…

Petrina Hicks’ imagery slides silkily along the edge of perception like a paper-cut. The wound is open before you feel the skin give way. Each image is arrayed in the full panoply of high-end commercial technique: soft even light, enchanting colours, a flicker of vulnerability that makes you want to love… Each image draws you close, so close that if it lived you could feel its warm sweet breath in your ear. And then, so imperceptibly you cannot be sure it isn’t just an idea forming spontaneously in your head, it whispers of things dark and damaging.

An assiduous artist, Petrina Hicks’ works are few and each develops slowly and precisely. While she harnesses the techniques of advertising, one catches the subversive scent of critique. Nonetheless, her imagery avoids didacticism. Indeed it is hard to pin down; tantalising rather than disclosing. Hinting at the beautiful facile ache that is hunger weaned of need.

Petrina Hicks has exhibited widely in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, UK and USA. Alasdair Foster introduced her photographs to Chinese audiences in the award-winning exhibition ‘Imaging the Everyday’ at the Pingyao International Festival of Photography, and he selected he work for inclusion in the exhibition ‘Enfoques’ which was presented in Spain and later in Mexico as part of an international showcase of photomedia art. Her moving-image work featured at Videobrasil in 2011.

~