Employing elaborate costumes made by the artist himself, Sydney-based photographer Gerwyn Davies’ art explores identity and the fictitious possibilities of digital images. In early 2022, Gerwyn was invited to check-in at The Calile Hotel as their artist in residence, utilising the distinct architecture as the inspiration for his new body of work‚ Pleasure.
“Over five decadent days, a cast of costumed characters – variously shiny, spiky, slippery and sleek – spilled themselves into each corner of the Calile, uncovering its every recess and helping themselves to suites, rooftops, car parks and gyms. In their wake, a stubborn trail of glitter left scattered throughout the hotels hallways and lifts suggested these were the kind of visitors that would be hard to get rid of.
And while as alien as these guests might first appear, there is also a sense that they already belonged to the hotel. In the suite of twelve photographic works, the iconic architectural forms of the Calile enfold these vivid figures, welcoming, shaping and securing them in place. Likewise, the costumed bodies respond, their strong graphic forms mimicking, reaching out for and nestling into the built environment that surrounds them.
Within these works of Pleasure, like polished postcards from paradise, the vibrant creatures are languid, sprawled and stretched. They show no signs of check-out times and instead, embody the sense of
sun-drunk resplendence that being cocooned inside the hotel arouses.” – Gerwyn Davies, 2022.
Gerwyn Davies completed his PhD (2021) at the University of New South Wales Art and Design, where he also lectures in photography. He has exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally including exhibitions at the Museum of Sydney, Australian Centre for Photography, Singapore International Photography Festival and Brisbane Powerhouse.
In 2021, he was awarded the Director’s Choice Award – Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture at Tweed Regional Gallery. He is a five-time finalist in the Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award and has been a regular finalist in The Sunshine Coast Art Prize, the Alice Springs Art Prize, the Bowness Prize and Clayton Utz Prize since 2014. His work is held in public collections including the Museum of Sydney, Museum of Brisbane, HOTA, Artbank and the Queensland Centre for Photography.
Gerwyn was recently featured in articles in the Australian Financial Review Magazine, The Australian WISH Magazine, Harpers Bazaar Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald. This year he was also commissioned by Hermes to collaborate on their store windows around the country.
