Putting our the washing

Displaced memories alienated from context, these found developed photos represent a network of people, spaces and objects displayed in the gallery collectively discussing identity, documentation, appropriation and time.

What do you do when you find a box of other artefacts...

  a) hidden in your attic
  b) in an op-shop
  c) passed down as a family heirloom
  d) dumped in a demolition yard
  e) stolen goods disguised as valuable art

During the install of 'Putting Our The Washing' The Grey Place gallery community has given agency to the photos by recognising the subjects within the photo allowing the audience to participate in the work and also emphasise as viewers we search for ourselves. Pre-selfie era, these photos challenge private and public spheres of viewing images predictably unsearchable on the internet.

A collaborative curated exhibition by Grey's own Von Bentley and Java Bentley, this show questions ownership of the photo taker and the photo installer. The camera also becomes a topic of conversation as both a weapon and indiscriminate machine which tells stories that are unknown to the artists. This installation mimics a developing room of which the PVC garden mesh becomes a binary tool used for analogue containment rather than the digital world. Like the original ambiguous existence of these photos, the buyer is posed the question of determining the value of these forgotten memories.

How much does memory cost?