Polixeni Papapetrou brings Eden to Sydney

Polixeni Papapetrou’s new exhibition Eden arose out of a commission by the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) in Melbourne to create works in response to the Melbourne General Cemetery. 

For the Eden series, which will be on show at Sydney's Stills Gallery in Paddington from 3 September to 1 October 2016, Papapetrou photographed flowers obtained from the cemetery against a black backdrop to invoke ideas about mourning and remembrance.

"Eden invites the viewer to celebrate the beauty of nature and honour its transience," writes Papapetrou. "We, like flowers, are subject to seasons of growth, blossoming, and wilting. The young women in the photographs, in the Springtime of their lives, are surrounded by flowers; on backdrops, on dresses; held or worn, they adorn and overrun them."

 In addition to Eden, Stills Gallery will also exhibit a small selection of Papapetrou’s early Phantomwise works. As with Eden, these large-scale black and white photographs also consider themes of metamorphosis and the ambiguity between ‘real’ and ‘imaginary’.

 Papapetrou was the recipient of the MAMA Art Foundation National Photography Prize in 2016. Her work has featured in solo and group exhibitions around the world and is held in private and institutional collections including at the National Gallery of Victoria; Museum of Contemporary Art; Fotomuseo, Colombia; Museum of Fine Arts, Florida; and Landstinget, Sweden.