'Still' by Michele Aboud at Black Eye Gallery

eloise by michele aboud

Michele Aboud is one of Australia’s most respected photographers, whose work has featured in 13 exhibitions from Toronto to Sydney. On June 12^th she will unveil her 14^th show - ‘Still’ at the Black Eye gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Here is an exclusive preview.

Five years in the making, the exhibition showcases 14 haunting black and white diptyques – each a 150cm x 92cm composite of two images of each subject a/ staring down the barrel of the camera and b/ blinking. Each comes in a limited edition of 12 prints.

Ten of the subjects are human, ranging in age from two and a half to 85. But there are also two owls, a Siberian Husky and a Sphynx Cat. 

You try getting one of the latter to blink on cue.

Originally shot in colour, then converted to black and white by Aboud’s creative collaborateur, Kisma at The Green Room Sessions, the intriguing gel-like effect on the human faces was apparently achieved in makeup, not retouching.

A graduate of the Photographic College of London and UCLA, Aboud’s fashion/beauty editorial work and portraiture have featured in pretty much every Australian fashion magazine, as well as international titles such as Interview, Wired, Grazia UK, ELLE Singapore and Mexico, Club 21 and Harpers Bazaar Singapore and Noise. Advertising clients have included Lancôme, Lindt, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and Nokia.  

Portraiture has always been a forté and Aboud’s subjects have ranged from Lina Wertmüller to Frank Stella, Wim Wenders, Gough Whitlam, Imran Khan, Debbie Harry and Cate Blanchett. Her portrait of a 27 year-old Baz Lurhmann is now part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

Black Eye is a fabulous new contemporary photography space in Sydney. We highly recommend you check it out.

‘Still’ by Michele Aboud

June 12 - 30

Black Eye

138 Darlinghurst Road

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

Phone: +61280847541

all images: supplied exclusively to frockwriter by michèle aboud