More Artist Interview
Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Stephanie Garner and I am a contemporary artist living and working in Australia. My art practice involves photography, painting, drawing, collage and floral installation. I am currently studying my second year of a Masters degree in Contemporary Art at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne.
What does your work aim to say?
My art practice utilises a symbolic language to discuss issues of environmentalism, feminist aesthetics and occultism. The surreal and highly symbolic nature of my work focuses on the bittersweet romance of human connection navigating its way through emotional landscapes.
Did you have any help when you first got started or was it a self taught experience?
My mother is an artist who encouraged creativity and instilled in me the value of art from a young age. My family home doubled as an art studio where I had the freedom to express any creative impulse and growing up I would attend exhibitions and engage in conversations about art regularly.
Who are your biggest influences?
The biggest influence on my art practice is the Australian contemporary artist Del Kathryn Barton and American photographer Francesca Woodman. Both women artists discuss the emotional complexities of inhabiting a female form through the mergence of the body and nature.
Who was your inspiration to get you started?
The experience of seeing ‘Candy Cigarette’ a photograph by American photographer Sally Mann for the first time was the moment when I came to understand the great emotional power of the photographic image. The deep resonance and connection I felt when viewing her work was what inspired me to purchase my first camera and begin my journey in photography.
Which film camera do you use and what's your favorite film to use?
My most loved film camera is my Canon AE-1 which I love to pair with rolls of Illford Pan 400 and Kodak Portra 100.