SPECIMENS, derived from the Latin verb specere ‘to look’ presents the photographer’s ongoing fascination and pleasure in looking –– specifically at the model/subject which has been the focus of Ellis’ art practice for over two decades alongside an ongoing inquiry into the form/object.
The history of looking and visual pleasure is embedded firmly within the canon of photography and a femininised gaze is a frequently called-upon trope in the artists’ lens based image making, whereas her curiosity for the object stems from a more recent direction into sculpture, working with earthenware and porcelain.
Within this forthcoming exhibition SPECIMENS displays a sample of an updated taxonomy of masculine ‘types’ and collected objects via the photographic portrait and the still-life. The artist locates their shared indexical traits similar to the lepidopterist or petrologist who collects, surveys and archives species.
