Rhiannon Hopley
Artist biography
Rhiannon Hopley, born 1987, is a Sydney based multidisciplinary artist and curator.
Working primarily in the medium of photography, Hopley’s work explores the relationship between nature, the urban landscape, and the human condition.
Hopley was awarded First Prize in photography for the Gosford Art Prize in 2013 and Commended for the main prize in 2015. She has been selected as a finalist for various awards including, Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, Qld 2018, North Sydney Art Prize 2017, The 39th Alice Prize, NT 2016, Cooks Hill Gallery Newcastle, We Get By 2015, Marrickville Urban Photography 2014 and Ballarat International FotoFestival, One for the Books 2013. Hopley has shown at Art Fairs including DENFair and selected to exhibit with .M Contemporary for their exhibition ‘No Place Like Home’, for the 2015 Australasia’s International Art Fair, Sydney Contemporary. In 2016 Hopley, was selected to exhibit in the Newtown ArtSeat and in 2017 she was awarded a grant to undertake her first residency in France. Her work is in private collections in Australia, France, and Canada.
Artforms used
Photography, Video, Mixed media, and sculpture.
My work explores the relationship between nature, the urban landscape
and the human condition. Through my work I explore the overlooked, try
to capture the beauty in the everyday as well as the stillness and
change that happens with the fall of night. I have a fascination with
historic buildings and charming houses, each building has a character
and a story of their own. Through these spaces I try to evoke questions
about the past and our present relationship with these sites of memory,
while also drawing attention to the peaceful beauty of the too often
lost stories these places hold.
Current work and inspiration
I am currently working on a rather different series, which captures the intimate and everyday moments in the lives of some close friends of mine, who identify as women and are in various stages of transition. Some of whom still feel the need to hide their true identity from their work environments, then radiate when within their element. My aim for the series is to capturing them in this element, where they feel they can truly be themselves, to conveying the courage, confidence, and beauty of these women, and to help bring awareness to the trans community.
The first image in this series, of my good friend Scarlett was selected for Loud and Luminous 2019, it is one of 100 images by female photographers on the theme of power and what that means to us. Loud and Luminous is on until 4 of May at Contact Sheet Gallery in St Leonards. I am also getting work ready for an exhibition in Tasmania at Penny Contemporary in September.
Through much of my work, I am trying to create a moment of stillness and contemplation and invite the viewer to consider something they may not have thought about previously or overlooked in their day to day lives. To notice the beauty in something they would have previously disregarded, question our impact on our environment and in more recent work, help bring respect and understanding within our differences, for a deepened connection within ourselves, and our community.
Website and social media links
Website: www.rhiannonhopley.com
Social media: www.instagram.com/rhiannonhopley