Tracey Moffatt
Adventure Series and Love
16 March–23 April 200516 Mar–23 Apr 2005
Brisbane’s Tracey Moffatt is arguably Australia’s most internationally successful contemporary artist. Her photo-narratives take the form of films and photo-sequences. Her photo-sequence Adventure Series—inspired by Flying Doctor comics and the TV series The Rovers—satirises and celebrates the retro-cheesey ‘adventure’ genre. While Adventure Series suggests a story, it is little more than a collection of familiar tropes. A hunky pilot, a glamorous blonde, and a sinister scuba diver join Moffatt in this outback fantasy, replete with Aboriginal encounters and foul play, all staged before scrupulously fake painted sets. Alongside, Moffatt presents her playful video Love—a collaboration with Gary Hillberg. This montage of hundreds of cliche-sodden clips from well-known Hollywood films charts how love can quickly dissolve into cathartic violence. Adventure Series was produced during an IMA residency.