“The Organisation”
Ali McCann
12 June → 4 July 2009

The Organisation comprises black and white photographic portraits of members of an unidentified group. The figures sit poised – stiff even – in the darkness. This is serious. They want to be remembered.

Ali McCann’s life-size photographs explore the way individuals and groups are made heroic and glamorous through the photographic medium, as well as the seductive, sexy and cool aura surrounding many 20th Century radicals and revolutionaries.

The Organisation addresses the (some would say misguided) idealism of young men and women of past eras and the (supposed) apathy of people today. The work investigates optimism and pessimism, truth and fiction, leaders and followers, and the changing face of terrorism. The scale and aesthetic of the artworks, produced through pinhole photography, reference traditional painted portraiture and Victorian photography, yet the subject’s attire and general appearance suggest a different historical context.

Ali McCann (b.1977 Stawell, Victoria) is a Melbourne-based photographic artist, freelance photographer, VCE photography teacher and musician. She has exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney and her freelance work has been published in local and international publications. She is currently writing and performing with the Melbourne band Beaches.