Ann Shelton: Dark Matter

Dark Matter is an exploration of the lens-based practice of Ann Shelton in which time, place, narrative, trauma and female authorship unfold in shifting and destabilising ways. Her engagement with the fragmented nature of the social body, particularly those of counter cultures, and those who are at the edges of culture both literally or as subjects in film or literature, has been the force behind major bodies of work from Redeye to Public Places. Other substantial works such as once more from the street and in a forest reveal the conceptual focus and psychological strategies Shelton brings in her dialogue with overlooked and unwanted histories. Works introduce clues to an uncertain narrative and they are destabilising in the sense of offering concrete clues to an unsolvable mystery.

Dark Matter includes new work created in the studio that reveals Shelton’s ability to recover the unseen and overlooked histories and bring them into the light of day. Shelton’s photographs are a locus for the unfolding of the deep investigations in which meaning always remains at one remove. 

Hear Ann speak about her work on RNZ's 'Standing Room Only' programme.