Berni Searle

Drawing from personal narratives as well as more collective experiences, my work can be seen as a series of explorations around the body, history, time and place…

Video installation.

Searle’s main project for the exhibition is Night Fall, a triple screen video installation and a series of related prints. The artist has placed herself precariously on top of a huge mound of crushed red grape skins that have been spurted out from an overhead funnel. En masse the grape skins form a sensuous reddish purple backdrop, simultaneously evoking lusciousness and decay. Shot mainly in slow motion, at dusk and dawn, the work has a contemplative dreamlike quality which is disrupted by an unexpected series of ‘falls’…

“I think my work operates on different levels and reflects different racial and political experiences – but I don’t think my pieces are limited by that. I hope they transcend and go beyond that, and provide a space for illusion and fantasy. They reflect a desire to present myself in various ways to counter the image that has been imposed on me.” Berni Searle

Working with photography, video and film, Berni Searle’s lens based installations references ongoing explorations around history, memory and place.