Danica Chappell is an artist working on the traditional lands of the Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri in Naarm (Melbourne). From a darkroom practice, Danica interrogates abstraction and the photograph by inviting a material agitation of combinational objects and time. Drawing inspiration from slow looking and thoughtful exchange between matter, Danica works with her body and the interplay of light and light-sensitivity substrates. Photographs and installations are anchored in geometric potentialities, separating external realities from their physical being. Welcoming the attention from the viewer to engage with what is made through the sensation of touch and from a durational record.
Recently commissioned solo exhibitions include, Thickness of Time at Heide III MoMA Project Gallery, Melbourne (2018-19) and Far From The Eye at Latrobe Art Institute, Bendigo in conjunction with PHOTO2021. Recent group and solo exhibitions include New Matter: Recent Forms of Photography, AGNSW Sydney (2016) and Emanations: The Art of the Cameraless Photograph, Govett-Brewster, New Plymouth NZ (2016), Haus Werk, McClelland Gallery, Langwarrin (2019), That’s Our Shadow on the Moon CAVES ARI (2015) & Nudge Into Form, Walker Street Gallery, Dandenong. Danica was the recipient of an Australian Council Arts Projects Grant (2017) and has been a shortlisted artist in the Bowness Photography Prize, MGA, Melbourne and MAMA National Photography Prize, Albury. Danica has undertaken residencies at Stichting BAD, (Rotterdam), Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (Edinburgh), Bauhaus University Summer School (Weimar), as well as research in the archives of the Bauhaus Archiv (Berlin), Folkswang Museum (Essen), Musée des artes et metiers & Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris).
Bibliography
Amery, M. Refractions of Light The Big Idea, published 1 June 2016
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Batchen, G. Ruination Art Monthly #288 April 2016 p 38-44
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O’Hehir, A., Spier, B., & Wilson. K., eds. Danica Chappell: Far From The Eye ‘Far From The Eye’, La Trobe Art Institution 2021
Palmer. D, Material Presence Art Monthly Australasia, Sep 2016 Issue 292, p 56, 4p
Rubeli, E. New Matter: Exhibition challenges traditional ideas of photography, Sydney Morning Herald, published 23 Sept 2016
Rule, D. In the Galleries: Danica Chappell That’s Our Shadow on the Moon, The Age, published 17 April 2015
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