Digital Catalogue: 2024 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award
Chris Barry
b. 1954 Melbourne VIC, lives Melbourne VIC
Tarna Driffen, Rosalyn Boko, Leonard Driffen and Princess, Larapinta Town Camp, Alice Springs, from the series CRUISING: A Journey into Culture (2015-present) , 2024
digital print on Dibond
Image courtesy of the artist © Chris Barry
Artist Statement
My relationship with Rosalyn Boko and Tarna and Leonard Driffen, who are related through kinship (Rosalyn is their grandmother), began in 2013 when I worked at Tangentyere Artists Aboriginal Centre and where I first met Rosalyn’s mother, Margie Boko. Margie passed away in December 2017.
We vowed to continue our close and long-standing relationship and work towards a public exhibition. Tarna and Leonard’s mother, Lena, is granddaughter to Margie, thus establishing a deep-rooted bond between families.
I too have been incorporated into this kinship as Margie’s daughter. These photographs emerge out of a dense sociality —and my position within this network of kin.
About the Artist
Chris Barry has been a practising artist since 1986. Her work is represented in national and state collections, university collections, state libraries, and regional galleries throughout Australia and she exhibits nationally and internationally. Barry has held key solo exhibitions at ACCA, Melbourne, Adam Art Gallery/Victoria University, Wellington, NZ, RMIT University Gallery, Melbourne. Griffith University Gallery, Brisbane, The Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourne, Leonhardi Kulturprojekte, Frankfurt, Germany, and Centre for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Poland.
From 2020-2021, she taught in the Masters’ Program (Photography Department) at RMIT.
