Ballarat International Foto Biennale exhibitor Frances Mocnik will
speak about her work at 2pm on Saturday 17 September at St Patricks Community Hall in Dawson Street South,
on the fringe of Ballarat’s CBD.
Mocnik’s series of intense black and white
reportage is a portfolio of images about how Australians deal with death, and
the conventions which surround it. Some of her previous work had been shown at
an earlier BIFB, as part of a joint fringe exhibition with photojournalist
Michael Coyne.
Mocnik studied photography at Narrabundah College
in the ACT, and has since specialised in both editorial images and business
portraiture with a creative edge. At this festival her series, The Night That
Follows Day, explored the conventions surrounding death and dying in Australia.
It
was initially motivated by the untimely death of her brother several years ago.
Around that time the journal Australian Geographic, for which Mocnik has worked
regularly, commissioned her to cover the subject by visiting Rookwood Cemetery
in Sydney. The
cemetery had an open day for the public and she spent the day listening to the
experiences of various visitors. She went back to the editor of the journal
with a story idea to cover how Australians dealt with the subject of death.
About five years ago it became a major feature for Australian Geographic, and
Mocnik says she has been exploring the subject ever since. Mocnik says many
visitors have contacted her to express their views on her series via Facebook.
Image by Frances Mocnik.
Image by Frances Mocnik.