Vanessa Berry

Visitor's Map | 2024

Vannessa Berry photo Alex Wisser
Visitor's Map. @ Kandos Community Charity Shop
Kandos Visitor’s Map is as much a guide for visitors as it is a portrait of the town created by a visitor. It combines Kandos landmarks and idiosyncratic details to chart some of the well-known and lesser-known features of the town. It aims to capture some of the unique qualities of Kandos and to evoke curiosity, act as a trigger for memories and storytelling, and to celebrate the town and its distinctive sites and stories.

bio:

Vanessa Berry is a writer and artist who lives and works on Gadigal land. In her books, essays and zines she examines expressions of memory, particularly connected to places and physical objects. She is the author of four books, most recently Gentle and Fierce (2021), a memoir about human and animal relationships, and the award-winning Mirror Sydney (2017), about urban environments and change, based on the popular Mirror Sydney blog. She is the author of the long-running autobiographical zine series I am a Camera and her zine and illustration works have been exhibited at major Australian galleries. She is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Sydney.

statement:

In my work, I use autobiography as a way to connect with social, cultural, environmental and community narratives and histories. This takes the form of autobiographical stories, essays, zines, drawings and hand-drawn maps that combine observational, archival and speculative approaches. In making work about places, material objects, and everyday life, I am attracted to the minor, vernacular, momentary, anachronistic, unexpected, and the overlooked. By bringing attention to these elements, I aim to inspire in readers and viewers a renewed curiosity about the places and objects that surround and sustain us.

Materials | digital print
Location | Kandos Community Charity Shop
a cementa background pic
Vannessa Berry photo Alex Wisser
2024 Artists