Suellen Symons – Displacement

Humans are susceptible to fantasies and dreams. We are drawn to the things that cannot be. We might judge them; we might dislike them or even love them. Something we cannot do is ignore the curiosity and the desire for the impossible, for the unusual and the strange.

We are never fully satisfied with reality, and we crave for novels, lies, movies, tales and art.

Displacement a solo exhibition by surrealist photographer Suellen Symons, celebrates the desire of escaping from reality throughout the world of cosplay and medievalism alter egos. This celebration portrays the yearning for freedom inside the imprisonment of reality. The images confront ideal characters with a discordant background of modern life. Knights taking buses, a medieval princess smiling in contemporary buildings, anime cosplays interacting with old trains.

Displacement implies movement, removal and departure. The exhibition shows the beauty of searching for a different world where we can display some fantasies. It also shows the sadness of never fully reaching such illusion because of the unavoidable reality.

Finally, the exhibition is about hope.

Some people out there choose not to conform with reality, refusing to give up their deepest illusions. They change their psychical appearance to protect their dreams, choosing their ideal worlds which can never fully exist, but neither could fully disappear.

Until May 28, 11am-5pm. Artsite Gallery, 165 Salisbury Road, Camperdown. Info: www.artsite.com.au or PH: 02 8095 9678

By Manuel A. Gonzalez