Deconstructing Outback images

By Melissa Meehan
DECONSTRUCTED and distorted photographs offer a different view into the Australian Outback in November at Heritage Hill Museum and Historical Gardens.
Inspired by the patterned red rocks of Pilbara, Western Australia, artist Mireille Beaufremez is sharing 20 of her favourite creations in Dandenong.
“I visited Pilbara at the end of 2007 and as soon as I got home I started working on reconstructing the images with my computer,” Ms Beaufremez said.
“I’m not necessarily improving them, but destroying them – deconstructing them in a way to express how the place made me feel at the time.”
Looking at the original photographs of her journey, Ms Beaufremez said, most pople would not recognise them after she had changed the form, colour and shape of the images.
A former teacher, Ms Beaufremez said she found her creative side much later in life than other artists.
“I couldn’t work for over a year, so I would sit in front of the computer and play around with the images,” she said.
“It’s even amazing to see the changes in my artworks from when I got back from the Pilbara to now – just getting more comfortable with the software and being a bit more adventurous.”
When asked by Star whether she would travel to the Pilbara again, Ms Beaufremez took no time to think.
“Of course I would go back, it was a magical place. It really affected me.”
Songs of the Earth will be exhibited at Heritage Hill Museum, 51 Langhorne Street and 66 McCrae Street, Dandenong from Wednesday 29 October to Wednesday 3 December.