#HTE

Shenae and Jade (2005) from the Untitled series 2005. Pigment inkjet print: 100.0 x 93.0. Courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Bruised Peaches (2018) from the Still Life Studio series 2018 ed. 2/4. Pigment inkjet print: 120.0 x 120.0 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2018 © Petrina Hicks. Courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne.

Rattlesnake Blues (2016) from The California Works series 2016. Pigment inkjet print: 120.0 x 120.0. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Venus (2013) from the The Shadows series 2014. Pigment inkjet print. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Birds Eye (2018) from the Still Life Studio series 2018 ed. 2/4. Pigment inkjet print: 120.0 x 120.0 cm. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Purchased, Victorian Foundation for Living Australian Artists, 2018 © Petrina Hicks. Courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne.

Birdfingers (2013) from The Shadows series 2014. Pigment inkjet print: 100.0 x 100.0. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Celebrated Australian photographer Petrina Hicks presents her first major survey exhibition with Bleached Gothic, a book and exhibition including over 40 photo and video works captured over her 15-year career since 2003. Living up to her reputation for enigmatic and multi-layered images, Hicks’ surreal compositions are seen together for the first time, each diverse in their conveyance of the inherent ambiguity and complexity of the female experience.

In her contemporary art practice, Hicks draws on the aesthetics and techniques developed during her previous career as a commercial photographer, recreating the shimmering allure of advertising and portraiture in her impeccably pristine images. Present across many of Hicks’ works is the tension between seduction and danger, familiarity and strangeness, intimacy and distance. Women, girls, and animals are recurring subjects, portraying inspiration from mythology and art history.

The Beauty of History (2010) from the Every Rose has its Thorn series 2010. Pigment inkjet print: 100.0 x 100.0. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Serpentina II (2015) from The Unbearable Lightness of Being series 2015. Pigment inkjet print: 100.0 x 100.0. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Infinity (2011) from the Beautiful Creatures series 2011. Pigment inkjet print: 100.0 x 100.0. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

Lambswool (2008) from The Descendants series 2008. Pigment inkjet print: 100.0 x 100.0. Collection of the artist, courtesy of Michael Reid, Sydney; and This Is No Fantasy, Melbourne © Petrina Hicks.

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