AS part of the Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2023, the Art Gallery of Ballarat is housing an exhibition by two female artists.<\/p>\n
Effacement<\/em> opened last week, and features works by Karenne Ann and Heather Horrocks, artists who live and work in Ballarat.<\/p>\n The pair formed a collaboration called ISOyoh following the COVID-19 pandemic and the exhibition explores identity and how this can be changed by masks.<\/p>\n Horrocks began using old VHS taped to crochet, and this eventually turned into making masks, curtains, and other objects aimed at giving the illusion of chainmail armour.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a BBC Crime Drama called Edge of Darkness<\/em> and it was about the end of the world and that was signalled by black daisies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was on a job with a friend in South Australia and I decided I needed to make black daisies to remind everyone how we have to look after the environment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing I could find in the outback was some black cassette video tape.\u201d<\/p>\n During the COVID-19 pandemic, Horrocks then moved to mask making to express her frustrations.<\/p>\n \u201cI made the Empiricist<\/em> mask because I was so angry when people wouldn\u2019t wear their masks because we have so much science and we know how important it is,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were trying in the 1500s to protect themselves with completely ineffectual stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Ann then photographed Horrocks in the masks, creating the final images which are used in the exhibition.<\/p>\n