IN THE GALLERY: Yhonnie Scarce ‘Shroud of Secrecy’ PHOTO 2024

Yhonnie Scarce

29 Feb - 28 Mar 2024

Coinciding with Scarce’s survey exhibition at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and following the extraordinary response to her work at the 2023 Armory Show in New York, Scarce’s exhibition ‘Shroud of Secrecy’ at THIS IS NO FANTASY showcases her photographic, textile, and glass works.

In her practice, Scarce reflects on her personal and family history in South Australia, as well as touching on Australia’s foray into nuclear testing, and the impacts of colonisation on First Nations people, realising her vision to bring the darkest shadows of Australia’s past into the direct light of day.

Scarce’s ongoing interest and research into memorials began as a young artist and was again piqued in Europe during an international traveling scholarship in 2019. Her extensive itinerary included Auschwitz Poland, Yerevan Armenia, the former Yugoslavia during a revival of Spomenik (monuments) to World War II, and Berlin which openly acknowledges the Holocaust through public memorials. Then on to Ukraine to visit Chernobyl and Pripyat. The photographs presented in ‘Shroud of Secrecy’ document her time there. These experiences solidified her intention to create sites of significance in the form of artworks.
Scarce has conceived many Monuments to her people and in doing so has memorialised her own personal archive of history and loss.

‘Shroud of Secrecy’ is an official exhibition partner for the PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography. Addressing the theme ‘The Future Is Shaped by Those Who Can See It’, PHOTO 2024’s expansive program invites audiences to discover the possible and parallel futures that lie ahead, and how current actions are shaping future realities – from AI-generated images and surveillance evasion to climate futures and animal espionage.

Please email info@thisisnofantasy.com for an exhibition catalogue