In the era of #MeToo, female artists like
Melbourne-based Lilli Waters are shining
a light on women. “I want my images to
move viewers to consider how we respond
to the female body and to the environment,” she says.
“We’re living in a time where the frustration and anger
about the inequality of women’s rights in society and
the destruction of the earth are bubbling to the surface.”
Waters photographs women in a bid to understand her
own femaleness. “It’s the conundrum of how to represent
one’s individual beauty and the beauty within oneself
without being constantly sexualised.”
Waters’ latest exhibition, Others Dream, runs 20–30 June
at Modern Times in Melbourne. VL
Sunshine Coast-based Indigenous Australian
artist Michael Cook chooses to expose the
world’s injustices through attraction rather than
overt confrontation. “I approach each project to
discover the colours between black and white,
finding a little more empathy,” he says. His
imagery is layered with concepts around
colonisation and Indigenous identity, often
employing role reversal, and when you look
closely, the subject reveals itself in the details.
There is an alluring sense of familiarity at first
glance. “I make the pictures attractive, then I let
the viewer’s emotions take over,” he says. “With
my work, I have the power to change opinions.”
Cook’s Broken Dreams (2010) series will be
exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong from 29–31
March. He is also featured in the show Points
of View in Aboriginal Photography at the Art
Gallery of NSW from 13 April–14 July.
Michael Cook
michaelcook.net.auInvasion (Telephone) (2017)
by Michael Cook.Lilli Waters
lilliwaters.com @lilliwatersOur Love Is Plastic (2017)
by Lilli Waters from her
Plastic Fish series.Mar/Apr 2019 71