'Metamorphosis (2020 - ongoing) meta·mor·pho·sis | \ ˌme-tə-ˈmȯr-fə-səs a striking alteration in appearance, character, or circumstances'
Exhibition Statement
'Created over two years during the most challenging period of my life, this body of work was both an escape and a deep dive into emotions I was yet to become aware of. During lockdown, my bedroom was a safe haven, a place to explore and give form to my inner world. A side table, a bedsheet, a curtain seen through the camera lens was all the magic I needed to escape for even a moment.
During this time I had begun to detach from the only person that has ever really known me, my life partner, my husband. Had you asked me then how I was I could never find the words, I kept my feelings in a box, lid tightly shut and tied with a bow. Through this process however, I can no longer stay hidden as the reality is burnt on film for all to see, including me.
This series is, above all, an exploration of my emotional journey through self-portrait, simple props and botanical arrangements. Each represents a modal shift in my state of mind as I navigate loss and the stages of depression, which begin and end the same yet, somehow, here I am, entirely different.'
Artist Bio
'Ashlee Pham is a self-taught photographer of Vietnamese origin currently based in Sydney, Australia. Her practice is inhabited by the feminine protagonists of an intimate and melancholic world.The imagery strives to exist beyond age, body type, ethnicity or other social norms to form an aesthetic language that excludes no one.
Her recent work has explored self-portraiture using analog methodologies and in-camera effects that speak to emotional upheaval, exploration and transformation.'
Exhibition Statement
'Created over two years during the most challenging period of my life, this body of work was both an escape and a deep dive into emotions I was yet to become aware of. During lockdown, my bedroom was a safe haven, a place to explore and give form to my inner world. A side table, a bedsheet, a curtain seen through the camera lens was all the magic I needed to escape for even a moment.
During this time I had begun to detach from the only person that has ever really known me, my life partner, my husband. Had you asked me then how I was I could never find the words, I kept my feelings in a box, lid tightly shut and tied with a bow. Through this process however, I can no longer stay hidden as the reality is burnt on film for all to see, including me.
This series is, above all, an exploration of my emotional journey through self-portrait, simple props and botanical arrangements. Each represents a modal shift in my state of mind as I navigate loss and the stages of depression, which begin and end the same yet, somehow, here I am, entirely different.'
Artist Bio
'Ashlee Pham is a self-taught photographer of Vietnamese origin currently based in Sydney, Australia. Her practice is inhabited by the feminine protagonists of an intimate and melancholic world.The imagery strives to exist beyond age, body type, ethnicity or other social norms to form an aesthetic language that excludes no one.
Her recent work has explored self-portraiture using analog methodologies and in-camera effects that speak to emotional upheaval, exploration and transformation.'
