Exhibition Museum of Australian Photography
Another drive through the wonderful southern suburbs of Melbourne to arrive at the Museum of Australian Photography to see the exhibition, Coded Blooms.
The title has a sub-title: Flowers have never been innocent. So let’s start there. Wrong!
Flowers are neither innocent or guilty. That sub-title reflects more on a symbolic, cultural, or emotional interpretation of flowers by some person trying to set up a binary argument – good/evil or maybe innocent/guilty.
So what is this exhibition about? From the room brochure:
Flowers have long stood in for what could not be spoken aloud: sex, death, longing, defiance. Soft in appearance yet potent in meaning, they are among art history’s great deceivers. Across centuries and cultures, the bloom has functioned as a visual code, a form artists have returned to, reclaimed and rewritten to speak about desire, power and taboo.
According to the gallery’s text the exhibition is anchored around works by the American photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. These National Gallery of Australia’s photographs were generally a pleasure to see again. Recommended viewing, but..
The real star of the exhibition is Pat Brassington. A visit to the exhibition is worth it to see her new suite of photographs. This series has been tilted Annunciation.
Her use of the title Annunciation could refer to a significant announcement, proclamation, or declaration that may also carry a sense of gravity, authority, or solemnity.
I had not detected a religious tone in the Pat Brassington’s works that I have seen over the years. So she has left us to wonder what clues are offered about what is happening in these new staged photographs. There’s heaps of beauty and everywhere there is subtly and nuance. Beautiful!
For me, it means another visit to the exhibition is a must. This will be mainly to spend more time with Peach of at Brassington’s 2025 suite of photographs.
Three other artists are in this exhibition being Del Kathryn Barton, Jake Preval and Meng-Yu Yan.
below – a few of the Mapplethorpe photographs:
below a couple of the Pat Brassington photographs:
At this point I am not going rate the whole exhibition.
Instead I would recommend a visit to see Pat Brassington’s new photographs and to then wander over and enjoy the Robert Mapplethorpe photographs – and possibly work out the connections going on.
and while there, take in the surrounding landscapes and parkland – here’s a couple of photographs.
Coded Blooms is on at the Museum of Australian Photography (Melbourne)
until 24th May 2026.
Here’s the gallery web site on the exhibition.