Through the looking glass

The fantasies of photography

Featured in

  • Published 20241105
  • ISBN: 978-1-923213-01-2
  • Extent: 196 pp
  • Paperback, ebook, PDF

Photography and truth have always had a complicated relationship. Long before AI and deepfakes recalibrated our trust in the medium, we’ve seen reality reinterpreted or misrepresented through the lens of a camera. For Australian artist Amy Carkeek, this porous boundary between photographic fact and fiction is a source of wide-­ranging inspiration and a way of interrogating some of our abiding cultural norms and motifs, from the vanishing suburban dream to society’s treatment of women. In this conversation, Carkeek talks to Griffith Review Editor Carody Culver about the oppositions and opportunities of the photographic image.

CARODY CULVER: Many of the works in this visual essay are from three photographic series: Descry (2021), Objects of Despair (2022–) and Gestures of Retribution (2023–). Aesthetically, these series are all strikingly different, which of course reflects the versatility of photography as an art form. What draws you to work in this particular visual medium?

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

About the author

Amy Carkeek

Amy Carkeek is an Australian artist and researcher. She has exhibited in galleries across Australia and the US, and has been a finalist in...

More from this edition

Under a spell

Non-fiction IT COSTS £3 to visit the gateway to hell. Midsummer and I’m somewhere on the border between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, staring down the black...

Tawny child

FictionCarefully, Morgan loosened the fabric. The crying increased in volume. Eventually, the small dark head of a bawling, tawny child emerged into the clear light. Morgan looked at the child with her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed, as if she were considering an heirloom of unknown value. Hans took the envelope from the fingers of the man in the blue suit and tore the gold seal. Inside were five crisp, dry banknotes. The man in the blue suit told them that such payments would be forthcoming every month, and that the child’s name was Many-­gift in the local dialect, but they were to refer to him as Albert and raise him as their own.

Girls to the front

Non-fictionIf there are no women in leadership in a synagogue, many of us don’t bother to come. Or if we do come, we know there’s no real point joining a board or committee – our opinions count for less. And this means that Orthodox Judaism risks losing a new generation of Orthodox women – women like me, who would never accept equivalent lack of opportunity and education in our professional and personal lives.

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.