Tina Smyrnios, Referential 4, 2012-2013, type C photograph, 102 x 152cm

Tina Smyrnios’ first solo exhibition at Anna Pappas Gallery presents new works that explore photographic and drawing processes to create images of both fragile beauty and strong confrontation. Through experimentation of materials, and manipulation of surfaces, Smyrnios has constructed images that recall pain, frailty and destruction, while allowing an unexpected radiance to break through the darkness.

The physical surface of paper works is violated with tools such as scrapers, burnishers and sandpaper creating an almost sculptural feel that invokes the materiality of stretched skin or a dark sky, while photographs are manipulated to stress a level of tension and vulnerability. These strong physical compositions that play with a protrusion and recession of form are fragmented by a sensuality and fragility that belies a contradiction of content and image.