after/image presents new work from artist and curator Brenda L Croft. Working with sites in the Goulburn Mulwaree region that connect directly to her family history, Croft offers a story of connection and distance, memory and loss over time. 

Croft is an artist from the Gurindji/Malngin/Mudburra Peoples from the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory of Australia, and Anglo-Australian/ Chinese/German/Irish/Scottish heritage. Her practice has, for over four decades, explored the intersections of family/community, place, re/memorying and contested histories.

after/image will extend Croft’s ongoing practice of researching and honouring her matrilineal heritage, in particular her great-greatgrandmother Caroline Stephenson (and her family) with whom she shares a birthday (17 May 1857/1964), who lived and worked in the broader Goulburn region during the mid to late 19th century.

after/image is an immersive exhibition experience featuring the Collodion tintype photographic process as well as a large-scale audio-visual installation. These new works will document specific sites of personal and historic significance featuring the Horse and Coaches Inn, St Saviour’s Cemetery and the northeast corner of Weereewa/Lake George, an endoheric lake that rises and falls enigmatically over time and has been a historic site of atrocities, fantasies and reflection over thousands of years. 

Croft in this new photographic series works with technical assistance from artist Prue Hazelgrove who brings expertise in the wet plate photographic process. Hazelgrove is simultaneously presenting a new body of work at the Gallery which studies the interlinked connections and histories between Hazelgrove’s personal experiences, family history in the region, and intersections with spiritual, social and cultural institutions.