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?