Dalam Tanganmu Again and Again, Selamanya

This exhibition presents a collection of rust transfer prints - products of a highly experimental and unrefined chemical printing process, the unpredictability of which reflects the inner workings of memory and reconstruction. Bleach and rust are prevalent in my practice as I consider their thematic connections to absence and the deterioration of material being an archival practice in of itself, baring the marks of time. The residual nature of the transfer print suggests a transferring of history, of memory, of passing down. The rust solution both strips the original image and gives the print its pigment, reiterating themes of absence and presence, giving and taking. Degradation, agedness, wornness, blurredness. Immersed in a fog, in a crumbling - reconstructing time and place I no longer have access to. What is it about an image you cannot quite decipher? One that sits just out of reach?

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Journey Kelly

Journey Kelly is currently studying and creating in Naarm, though finds her printing practice tends to revolve around three main geographic points of connection to the ‘home’ - that is Darwin, Bali, and Geelong. She engages with atmospheric domesticity, drawn in by its imagery, the home acting as a site to retrieve from. Photographic family archives are a fundamental part of her practice as themes of ubiquity, memory, maternal nurture, familial love, history and reconstruction are all key elements to the works.

Journey favours unrefined printing methods such as her self-developed rust transfers amongst others, interested in processes that reject perfection and embrace creative unknowns.

Image Credit: Journey Kelly, Garden Chairs, 2025, rust transfer print on mat board

Photography credit: Nat Kelly @film_laundry