A Brunswick East artist who deconstructs photos to create entirely new images has snapped up the Wyndham Art Prize’s People’s Choice Award.
Photographer Carmel Louise spent more than 165 hours creating her piece, Constructional No.1, V1 in 3D, which started with a photo of a Lygon Street construction site that had previously been an old theatre.
Louise adapted the image using a technique she has dubbed DeConstructed technology, in which she deconstructs the original image to create multiple patterns.
“It’s like a painting in a way – you build it up layer by layer,” she said.
Louise said the work was a metaphor for the gentrification and changes to inner-city areas such as Brunswick, Northcote and Fitzroy.
“It’s the stripping down of the old, and rejuvenating it into something that’s completely divergent from its origins,” she said.
“This was typically a Greek and Italian area … but you knock down the old buildings and remove the manufacturing hub that was here and it’s replaced with apartment buildings and hipsters and yuppies – a whole new demographic with hip bars and hip restaurants and boutique clothing shops.
“When they replace these old buildings, they don’t tend to save any of the key elements. The wrecking balls comes through and anything historical is just blown away.”
The artist said she was thrilled to have her piece selected as the People’s Choice.
“It’s one thing to be judged by one person … but when you’ve got a whole group of people who don’t know you … telling you that they think that your artwork is the best in that room, that’s a very clear message that I’m on the right track,” she said.
