She is an ongoing series, which explores the relationship between the subject and the photographer. For me, it is a relationship of equality, therefore I see the subject, rather than look upon it as an object. I look to identify myself within the subject, understand it, make it feel comfortable; enabling me to intuitively capture fleeting moments or beauty that may otherwise remain hidden. My works are mirrors, reflections of memory, romantic ways of seeing.
Every image I capture, whether literally or metaphorically, is a self-portrait, a reflection of who I amâ?¦ each image echoing my fragmented existence. I draw upon the materiality of photography and often draw inspiration from romantic narratives of the nineteenth century, specifically those occurring in literature and art, to symbolically reference my preoccupation with time, and to acknowledge the impossibility of living within a romanticised memory of the past.
Ula Blocksage is a photographic artist, currently pursuing a Masters at the South Australian School of Art in Adelaide, Australia. She has exhibited in various countries including Australia and France and has featured in many publication including the Paris Normandy Newspaper, Adelaide Review and Attitude Magazine. Having grown up in the UK and Australia, Ula now travels back and forth between her two homelands creating photographic art, making moving image work, playing music, reading poetry and drinking cups of tea.
Ula has always felt an overwhelming desire to turn back time, to the great eras of the past, which better correspond with her personality and mentality. Having romanticised about previous epochs in her mind from an early age, Ula uses her practice to acknowledge and explore associated feelings of desire, loss, isolation (both physical and temporal) and melancholia; creating symbolic metaphors and romantic narratives, which attempt to communicate the beauty, pain, quietness and stillness of recollection.
Awards Education
Current
Masters of Visual Art Specialising in Photography, South Australian School of Art Architecture and Design, Adelaide, South Australia
2012
Graduate Diploma of Visual Art: Photography, South Australian School of Art Architecture and Design, Adelaide, South Australia
2010
Bachelor of Visual Arts, Major: Photography, South Australian School of Art Architecture and Design, Adelaide, South Australia
Selected Exhibitions
2012
Hunt, Masters Graduate Exhibition, University of South Australia, Adelaide (upcoming)
Fragments, The Reading Room, Adelaide, South Australia (upcoming)
Winter, Espionage Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
2011
Rare, Graduate Diploma Exhibition, University of South Australia, Adelaide
Se Souvenir de Demain, Le Rêve de l’escalier, Rouen, France
I am a Camera, Greenhill Gallery, North Adelaide, South Australia
The Shadow Box, Liverpool Street Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
Glamour on the High Seas: Maestros and Apprentices, Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia
Helpmann Academy Graduate Exhibition, Torrens Parade Grounds Drill Hall, Adelaide
Print Repeat, The Atrium, Burnside Civic Centre, South Australia
2010
Under the Bed, Grace Emily, Adelaide, South Australia
Sticks, Stones, Broken Bones, Graduate Exhibition, University of South Australia, Adelaide
Intimacies, Format Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
Arts Angels Maestros and Apprentices, Adelaide Convention Centre, Australia
2009
Looking Through a Pinhole, Gallery 139, Adelaide, Australia
World Pin Hole Day, Exhibition, Online
Two of Five, Gallery 181, Iowa State University, United States of America
Work and Play, Second Valley Soldier Memorial Hall, South Australia
Sky: International Year of Astronomy, Conference, United States of America
The Printed Universe, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandia, Egypt
Publications
2012
Px3 De la Photographie 2012, Photo book, France
2011
Tual, P. La Vie en Images, Paris Normandie, France
Coffee and Cigarettes, Ensemble Magazine, Photo Issue #1
Bright Sparks: Ula Blocksage, Attitude Magazine, Winter Edition, Adelaide
Coffee and Cigarettes, Carpaccio Magazine, Issue #27
Exposed, Adelaide Review, Adelaide
Dance, P. The Shadow Box: An Exhibition Of Pinhole Photography, DB Magazine, Adelaide
Collections
Hill Smith Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
