BLAKE LAWRENCE | Psittacines

An exhibition comprising photography, large-scale cyanotype textiles, installation and performance.

Blake Lawrence pink flowering gum

Psittacines is an interdisciplinary exhibition comprising photography, large-scale cyanotype textiles, installation and performance by Warrang/Sydney-based artist Blake Lawrence. The exhibition explores both material and imagined relationships between drag performers and birds and offers a platform for contemplating and mourning mass extinction in the Anthropocene. Found leaves, twigs and feathers fold into scanned and layered compositions beside synthetic and human hair wigs and rhinestones. Bodies melt in and out of frames in acts of expanded self-portraiture. A tea brewed from organic matter toned crude cyanotype shrouds, and the gestures of lip-sync are offered as an act of mourning.

The works in Psittacines were made in collaboration with three urban parrot species of Sydney – including the Little Corella (Cacatua sanguinea), Rainbow Lorikeet (Trichoglossus moluccanus), and Musk Lorikeet (Glossopsitta concinna). Blake Lawrence is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised on Yaegl land and waters in the Clarence Valley. Psittacines was made on the city streets of unceded Gadigal land.

A Grafton Regional Gallery Exhibition on show from 20 July - 15 September 2024.

IMAGE CREDITS:
Above: Blake Lawrence, Musk Lorikeet with Pink Flowering Gum, 2021, (detail) archival piment print on cotton rag framed in Blackwood. Image courtesy of the artist.
Homepage square: Blake Lawrence, Rainbow Lorikeet with Yellow Box, 2021. Image courtesy of the artist.
Slider: Blake Lawrence, Musk Lorikeet with Pink Flowering Gum, 2021, archival piment print on cotton rag framed in Blackwood. Image courtesy of the artist.