The second part of a triadic collaboration which brings together dance, sound and a visual aesthetic that are drawn from and reference pervasive socio-political forces that organise modern human activity, as understood by the artists. Still Looking Good is a catalogue for the enabling infrastructures—physical, ethical, economic, biological—of human “Progress, Growth & Development”; a decades-old ideology. During the launch of the Orion Spacecraft, a video of which can be found on YouTube, the commentator can be heard to repeat over and over, “still looking good”. It is a statement that introduces uncertainty and appears hoping rather than confirming. A question is asked: Still Looking Good?

Still Looking Good

The images in Forty Three were made during a freezing day in the middle of Berlin’s worst winter in forty-three years. Meanings evolved as Alice have spent time with the work; looking, selecting, editing and sequencing. This particular day of work — January 2013 — began as a momentary, snapshot distraction from the bleakness that had settled into Berlin, and developed into a project about the displacement and loneliness endured when one moves to a new country. The protagonist — an armless, child mannequin, found in a disheveled Berlin alleyway — was used first for Alice’s own amusement but as the day’s chill persisted, bit by bit he developed into a metaphor for her early experiences of an uncharted city that would become her home.

While she is keen to rebuff the obvious narrative of ‘lonely doll in snow reflects lonely woman in alien city’, Alice cannot deny that what began as a playful day with a found piece of detritus turned into an expression of unease and isolation. This mood parallels her first six months in Berlin.

Forty Three - Photobook

An ancient pygmy forest, Wistman’s Wood is a rare example of a native high-altitude wood consisting mainly of English Oak. The trees — which take centuries to grow — are contorted into Tolkien-esque shapes and though grotesque in their twisted forms, they harbour a diverse and thriving botanical collection.

Legend has it that the wood was a sacred grove for Druids and the site of many pagan rituals. It is also suggested that the woods are the kennels of the fearsome hellhounds which stalk the moors in search of lost souls.

Sitting amongst these trees, one can feel an intensity emanating from the earth. The air simultaneously vibrates with energy while being completely still and calm — a welcome and other-worldly respite.

Wistman's Wood

Finalist in the 2019 Australia & New Zealand Photobook Award
Listed as one of the Best Antipodean Photobooks 2019

The final part of a triadic collaboration which brings together dance, sound and a visual aesthetic that are drawn from and reference pervasive socio-political forces that organise modern human activity, as understood by the artists. Still Looking Good is a catalogue for the enabling infrastructures—physical, ethical, economic, biological—of human “Progress, Growth & Development”; a decades-old ideology. During the launch of the Orion Spacecraft, a video of which can be found on YouTube, the commentator can be heard to repeat over and over, “still looking good”. It is a statement that introduces uncertainty and appears hoping rather than confirming. A question is asked: Still Looking Good?

This pocket-sized book was borne through an innate desire to experiment with a multidisciplinary approach, embracing the full arch of book-making. It is an object that is the true expression of mine and Oliver Connew’s artistic intention — the GLORIA Books manifesto, if you will. Still Looking
Good, the book, explores what it means to unite performance, sound, video, photography and design within the bound page.


Still Looking Good - Photobook

My series Petrolettes emerged from a quiet interest in the culture of motorcycles that gently thrummed alongside a louder interest in the current third wave of Feminism which has kickstarted a renaissance of underground women’s movements. 

The work is a study into this third wave by pointing the lens on a traditionally male sport, where the women behind Petrolettes have unapologetically carved out a space to call their own, boldly declaring, “we ride too”.  

This zealous attitude becomes the core of the series which juxtaposes themes of femininity and the female gaze against machismo and convention. 

The women and their bikes move through landscapes that shift between post-industrial, iron graveyards to genteel cultural landmarks, each location harking back to patriarchal histories which the motorcycles, the road and the women with their connotations of freedom explicitly and loudly push back against, refusing to let it persist. 

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Alice Connew