Stories I’ve Been Told: Shanti Des Fours

25 November 2022 - 26 February 2023

Shanti Des Fours
Stories I’ve been told (detail) 2022
digital photographic print on archival paper, 84 x 59 cm
Image courtesy of the artist

Stories I’ve Been Told explores themes of cultural identity and belonging through an examination of the artist’s memories of a childhood growing up in an alternative religious community in rural NSW.

25 years later, Shanti is seeking to understand how this formative experience has shaped who she has become. She is creating work about this process.

Stories I’ve Been Told includes a series of self-portrait photographs in which the artist performs half-forgotten religious rituals by rote. The resulting images present an uncertain and fragmented version of self. Her form is frequently lost entirely, leaving nothing but the visual echoes of the costumes and paraphernalia of her past.

An outcome of the Community Access Exhibitions Program.

This exhibition is the inaugural outcome of the Tweed Regional Gallery — Byron School of Art (BSA) 3rd Year Graduate Award, 2021.

Download exhibition catalogue(PDF, 4MB)