Elaine Barry Conway
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Elaine Conway's work is spread across a range of genres,including sculpture, installation, interactive work and lightboxes. Within the varied modes of her artistic practice, Conway investigates the nature of perception while simultaneously commenting on the advance of society, utilising a range ofmaterials that emphasise the synthetic and its place in modernlife.
As Conway explains her series of light box works as a,'21st century version of Polyorama Panoptique back-lit images made to amuse the middle classes in the 18thcentury. These works combine reflection and light to move the viewers' perception by blending reality with remembered images. Prolonged concentration creates differing readings as the brain and eye work together. The light boxes are explorative representations of established communities which ponder the impetus behind the pervasion of chosen sites.' In choosing thelight box as a medium, Conway exaggerates the visual effect of theimage, calling attention to the content of each work in an inescapable manner.
Conway's sculptures and lightbox works are held in public andprivate collections throughout New Zealand and in 2007, she was awarded the Harkness Henry Sculpture Award for her work 'CrumblingCrust' at the Waitakaruru Arboretum & Sculpture Park. Conwaycontinues to exhibit as a solo artist and as part of the Dust Collective.