LITTLE SECRETS – PATRICIA CASEY

According to artist Patricia Casey, everybody has an unknowable aspect. Casey’s works are showcased in the exhibition Little Secrets at NG Gallery in Chippendale.

Her images are an intricate twining of the human and the natural. Tendrils of branches enfold the soft skin of young men and women, suggesting mysterious emotional fragments and eerily disturbing shadows. This is typified in A Half Truth, which features the haunting face of a girl peering from foliage of yuletide colours. The piece is a paradox of innocence and promise, invitation and rejection.

These pictures are a unique blend of photography, Photoshop and ancient embroidery produced on fabric. The artist is interested in sense memory and expresses this with bright threads of hand-sewn stitching. The personal touch adds an element of shimmering beauty and unusual texture to the obscured visages.

Visually enticing and artistically innovative, Little Secrets is a hidden treasure. (LR)

Until Mar 22, NG Art Gallery, 3 Queen St, Chippendale, free, ngart.com.au