You can give them a better life than I ever could

Martin Smith

12 February - 21 March 2004
Balcony

This exhibition explores the range of physical and emotional responses that have emerged following the death of Smith's sister, Donna Marie Philp, in 1999. On the anniversary of her death this year, Smith spent a day in his local park, photographing the surrounds. The resulting images have been sliced together with family photographs of Donna's life from her first image to her last, creating a positive and negative images. In this exhibition, Smith's work, comprising photographs and text, will be given freely to gallery visitor on the opening night, on the proviso that they sign their name and provide a brief statement in an adjacent book. A communal discourse between the images and their new owners develops that redirects the 'preciousness' of the photograph from a retinal/commercial context to the conceptual and historical. Presented as part of the UWA Perth International Arts Festival