Soldiers report for Foto duty

ISRAELI photographer, Adi Nes will bring his Australian-first solo exhibition, Soldiers to the Post Office Gallery during the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.

Known for creating dramatic, dreamlike photos which touch on universal humanity, the stereotypical image of Israeli men, and his life as a young gay man on the periphery, Nes’ work nods to well-known Renaissance and Baroque iconography.

“My staged photographs often recall well-known scenes from art history and western civilisation, combined with personal experiences,” he said.

“In many ways dreams are fantastic and pastoral but also full of fears and all the things that we deny.”

BIFB Director, Fiona Sweet said Nes’ work aligns well with the Biennale’s 2019 premise, Hello World.

“We really want to talk about three big important issues. One, of course, is always the environment, one is globalisation, and one is discussing conflict.

“Adi Nes’ work is talking about masculinity and the military, so it’s a really interesting discussion about this issue,” she said. “They’re beautiful compositions, quite Renaissance in their style and composition.

“He is very significant, he’s won major awards around the world, he’s never exhibited in Australia, and we always want to present work in Ballarat that’s not been seen around Australia in order to get audiences to come and see the work because it’s unique,” Ms Sweet said.

Soldiers will show from this Saturday until mid-October on the corner of Sturt and Lydiard Streets, Ballarat.