Steven Rendall: What are the influences (political, social, artistic, cultural, historical etc.) that are essential to you and in what ways they have informed your practice?

Ang Connor: The original idea for the project came out of reading The Ongoing Moment by Geoff Dyers. In his book he lists and describes the tradition of blindness in 20th Century photography and the limited representations of blind/vision impaired people. After this I started researching and looking at how other photographers/film makers have portrayed people who are blind or vision impaired.

It was also around this time that I started looking at African photographers like Pieter Hugo, David Goldblatt and Zwelethwa Mthethwa whose work looks at people who are marginalised from contemporary society.

SR: In what ways have you extended your practice in realising this exhibition? What were the particular approaches and/or processes that you used to make the work at West Space.

AC: For the last year I have been working on a collaborative project that examines the (often) negative portrayal of blind and vision-impaired people in 20th Century photography. My project has developed out of the way that images have been used and are perpetually being repeated by the media to typecast people who are blind or vision impaired.

My cousin was born blind and this was the starting point of the project. The resulting body of work grew out of an advertisement that I placed on the Internet and through vision organisations looking for more people to be involved in the project. At the moment I have about ten people involved in the project and my relationship with each person is different. One of first things I ask people when I meet them is how they would like to be represented. The photograph of the couple in the botanical gardens came out of a conversation that I had with Shae about how she also liked to take photographs. Or the photograph of Ariele came out of her telling me how much time she has spent in airports travelling the world.

SR: Why did you want to exhibit your work at West Space?

AC: West Space is a highly respected art space with a dedicated following.

SR: Now that the exhibition is installed do you have any comments or criticisms (negative or positive) about your exhibition?

AC: Since installing my work at West Space, I’ve thought more about the installation of photographs in a space and the relationship between photographs in that space. One of the things I tried to concentrate on with this exhibition was placing the photographs in such a way that I directed the viewer around the space. Purely by coincidence after I had installed the work I noticed that there is another dialogue set up between the photographs bought about by the reflection in the glass of one against the other.

SR: Have you been to any exhibitions recently that changed the way you think about art or society? Could you tell us about it?

AC: I saw a work by Sam Jinks at Seventh Gallery on Gertrude Street about a month ago. I can’t remember the name of the piece (the exhibition was just called Sam Jinks) but it was of a young man holding an older man in his arms. The level of detail and craftsmanship was phenomenal. I remember not wanting to leave the room because I was so entranced by the realism of the work. I must have stood in the room for about twenty minutes before I left the room only to return again for another look. It was so grim and yet so intensely compelling.

SR: Are there any projects or exhibitions that you are currently working on? Where and when can people see your work?

AC: For the next year I’ll be continuing on with this project. I have a couple of group shows lined up and another solo show in 2008.

Link to Ang Connor's exhibition On Site, held at West Space 9th November - 1st December 2007.