Jacqui Stockdale is highly regarded for her practice as a painter, drawer and photographer and has been recognised in major awards, prizes and institutional exhibitions. In her work Stockdale sets up theatrical scenes using carnival masks, costumes and objects collected from her travels to comment on history, culture and identity.
Stockdale’s new series, The Boho, is being shown in the Adelaide Biennial at the Art Gallery of South Australia from February to May 2016 and will be shown at the gallery from 2 April to 23 April 2016.
‘The Boho’ is a series of large scale photographic portraits. Jacqui’s hand-painted landscape paintings of rural Victoria form the backdrop of the works. The images playfully draw on the nineteenth century Australian folk narrative surrounding the popular larrikin and anti-hero Ned Kelly. They combine Stockdale’s fascination with Australian colonial folklore and masquerade. The life size portraits depict subjects – including Paul Kelly and Missy Higgins, in front of iconic ‘Kelly country’ landscapes, such as String Bark Creek and Power’s Lookout in the King Valley.