Cake Portrait
Note: not part of ‘Westside’ series

Conor O’Brien // Westside

Each of Conor O’Brien’s photographs are individually appealing but when displayed as series they become more than the sum of their parts. Carefully composed but never contrived his images are personal but never self-indulgent and have a narrative formed through contrasts of intimacy and toughness, honesty and mystery, the mundane and the magical. His exhibition ‘Westside’ opens tonight at Utopian Slumps in Collingwood, in between preparation for the exhibition and earning the dollar, he took some time to chat to us more broadly about his work.

I’ve heard that you only shoot with one kind of camera. Is this true and if so what’s the reason behind it?

Yeah, I think it’s because I’m not really interested in having different styles or techniques to describe a certain period of time. It helps bring together some rather eclectic subject matter and becomes about a personal view. Also, using one camera for many years means that you have a good sense of what works and what doesn’t.

Your exhibition ‘Westside’ exhibited at the Monster Children in Sydney last year and will be opening at Utopian Slumps in Melbourne on Friday. With such a gap between the shows has there been any change to what you are actually exhibiting?

I also showed the series earlier this year at Johnston Gallery in Perth, so having exhibited it a few times has definitely helped with the selection process for the Utopian Slumps show. Thanks of the size of the gallery, it will be the largest selection from ‘Westside’ series so far.

Amanda Fence, 2004

How many ‘Westside’ images are there in total?

There are about 25 photographs that make up the series and are all reproduced in the book/catalogue published by Serps Press.

How different was the process of laying out your photos for publication as opposed to setting them up within the gallery? Were you as hands on in the production?

It is different, but I’ve found that all the time spent getting a book right, ends up informing lots of your decisions once in the gallery.

I did the all the laying out of the book. I feel books are a vital part of communicating a series of photographs, so I think it is important to have control over how it all comes together and the story it tells.

Following the exhibition what other projects will you be working on?

I’ve got an exhibition coming up in October at ACP in Sydney. It will be new work from the last few years in Melbourne.

Photographically, what are the elements of Melbourne that have influenced you most over the last few years?

There are heaps of things here that influence my photographs but the light here is probably what I’m most conscious of. Getting out of the city and going camping is something I also enjoy, country Victoria is beautiful.

And personally?

My girlfriend and close friends have probably the main inspiration in the last few years. Lots of my new photographs are situational portraits of my friends. I don’t end up taking many pictures of people I don’t know or haven’t hung out with.

So how much, if at all, do you separate your personal life from your photography?

I don’t really separate them at all, in some ways my photography is a record of my personal life, but it is also a way of communicating quite personal ideas and feelings.

The idea of time seems to be an important part of your photography, ‘Westside’ being the outcome of a year in WA and your next show being about a period of time years in Melbourne. Is this intentional?

Yeah, all of my bodies of work so far have come from periods spent in different places, it’s like I need a whole series to help describe place and what I was feeling at the time. My new work will be about 3 years of living in Melbourne but I don’t have plans to move again anytime soon.

I guess I try to make work that takes its inspiration from a time and place but also transcends that period. Hopefully that way it can become accessible and people can relate to it outside of the original context. So, It isn’t really documentary photography but more of a personal vision.

/END/

Exhibition Details: click to enlarge

 

‘Westside’ - publication available through Serps Press