Laudanum #15

Name/Title

Laudanum #15

Entry/Object ID

2022.10

Description

A distorted image of the shadow of a woman descending a staircase.

Artwork Details

Medium

Photogravure print

Context

The print belongs to a nineteen-piece photogravures series titled Laudanum. Trained in film and photography, Moffatt’s work on experimental film is an evident reference in this series combining a filmic narrative quality and a dialogue between photography and cinema. Her process is close to film as well in that the work is first scripted with specific locations, props, actors, and are then directed in much the same way as a film. In this series, shot in a colonial mansion with a Victorian feel, Moffatt presents a hallucinatory narrative of sexual violence between a white mistress and her Asian maid, filtered through what seems to be a drug-fueled haze. The psychosexual tension between the two characters is emblematic of issues dealing with colonialism, control, power, and domination.

Acquisition

Accession

2022.10-11

Source or Donor

Michael Gray

Acquisition Method

Gift

Credit Line

Gift of Michael Gray

Made/Created

Artist

Tracey Moffatt

Date made

1998

Dimensions

Height

30-1/8 in

Width

22-3/4 in