Image: Michelle Doherty, Untitled 2, 2015, digital photograph

Michelle Doherty

Goulburn Boy's Home

28 oct. — 3 dec. 2016

Michelle Doherty is a photographic artist who reflects on the concept of identity and place in her practice. While living in Goulburn, she was drawn to the ecclesiastical giant laid bare on the top of a hill. Shadows, the light that played off broken glass and a sense of prescience compelled her to look for the traces of home that remain in a place left behind so long ago. Each time she visited the foundling orphanage, it presented itself differently - showing off its grand staircase proudly in the morning sun and in contract the primitive laundry and boiler room a reminder of six decades worth of winters illuminated through the tiny shards of light, surrounded by a profound sense of belonging among sturdy blue spruce trees.

Where vandalism competed for pride of place, she was compelled to look past the deterioration and attempted to visually restore grace to the E.C Manfred-designed architecture through a series of images before the fire and since. The viewer is invited to look past the destruction and find the subtle sense of composure that remains in the Goulburn Boys' Home.

Image: Michelle Doherty, Untitled 2, 2015, digital photograph

Michelle Doherty

Goulburn Boy's Home

28 oct. — 3 dec. 2016

Michelle Doherty is a photographic artist who reflects on the concept of identity and place in her practice. While living in Goulburn, she was drawn to the ecclesiastical giant laid bare on the top of a hill. Shadows, the light that played off broken glass and a sense of prescience compelled her to look for the traces of home that remain in a place left behind so long ago. Each time she visited the foundling orphanage, it presented itself differently - showing off its grand staircase proudly in the morning sun and in contract the primitive laundry and boiler room a reminder of six decades worth of winters illuminated through the tiny shards of light, surrounded by a profound sense of belonging among sturdy blue spruce trees.

Where vandalism competed for pride of place, she was compelled to look past the deterioration and attempted to visually restore grace to the E.C Manfred-designed architecture through a series of images before the fire and since. The viewer is invited to look past the destruction and find the subtle sense of composure that remains in the Goulburn Boys' Home.