we the wayfinders, work in progress image, 2023, silver gelatin prints
we the wayfinders - bushturkey ahead!, 2023, silver gelatin prints
we the way finders, mock installation, 2023, silver gelatin prints
Threaded together from a series of walks, ‘we the wayfinders’, is a collection of thirty silver gelatin prints which become one fictionalised wander. It is a tale of encounters, that the artist, an outsider, has had the privilege of stumbling upon. The series encapsulates the phenomena of losing oneself through wandering. When Izzy moved from home to Australia, she felt like she was leaving herself behind. Upon arrival, she didn’t know what she was going to photograph, where to look or how to look. How do you look at a face you’ve never seen before?
Embracing exploration and unintrusive observation, the artist asked friends raised in Australia to send her to places they’ve grown up belonging to or places they have always wanted to see. These are spaces they are connected to, or have yet to come into, or are in the process of losing. These places were entirely unfamiliar to the artist who walked without maps or prior knowledge of where she was being sent. ‘we the wayfinders’, thus, is the intertwining of an exchange between loss of sense of self, with a new community who are stepping into and away from their chosen places. What could you see when you allow yourself to see for the very first time?
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Izzy Snow grew up wandering the mountains, forests and wetlands of Hong Kong, befriending life from the water buffalo to the banyan tree. Izzy’s artistic practice thus orbits around interconnected storytelling through a deep love of the natural world. Izzy’s photography and immersive audio / visual installations create space for peaceful reflection on our place on Earth, and being a queer ‘Third Culture Kid’ new to Australia, her works embody themes of belonging, adventure, and identity.