By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
There’s something not quite right about suburban streets at night, Caulfield artist Jane Burton says.
She elicits their tension with a ‘dark’ sense of fun in her three creepy black-and-white photographs displayed as part of Walker Street Gallery’s Things That Go Bump In The Night exhibition.
One shot, I did it for you, is a voyeur’s view from outside looking into the figure of a silhouetted woman behind window drapes. There’s a touch of threat about it, Burton says.
Burton took inspiration from the Maria Korp tragedy in which Ms Korp was strangled and discovered barely alive in a car boot in Melbourne in 2005.
The tragedy played out like a film noir script, Burton says. Ms Korp died in hospital and her husband Joe was found hanged at his Mickleham home soon after her funeral. His mistress Tania Herman was jailed for 12 years for attempted murder.
“I’m fascinated by what goes on behind closed doors,” Burton says. “Suburbia in the dead of night is quite spooky and isolated. There are no people walking around, few cars. I was exploring those fears and tensions.”
Burton says many people did not think about these embedded fears most of the time. “That’s until I’m stuck out somewhere alone, such as when the car’s broken down. I feel it when driving through those suburban zones. It’s so dead quiet.”
She is one of 11 visual artists displaying night-themed work as part of Things That Go Bump In The Night.
In the last of a series of performances at the exhibition, post-rock band Laura plays on Thursday at 8pm.
The exhibition is open Monday-Saturday until June 30 at the corner of Walker and Robinson streets, Dandenong.
NIGHT MOVES
A GUIDED night walk is revealing intriguing lanes and rooftops in Dandenong.
As part of the City of Greater Dandenong’s Nocturnal Festival, walkers are brought to temporary art projects in the streets, accompanied by a soundscape by Australian Chamber Orchestra composer Daniel Denholm played through car audio systems.
It is one of 45 temporary art projects that bring Dandenong to life after dark in June. A highlight is an eight-storey art projection by internationally-renowned Ian de Gruchy, lighting up the side of a building at the corner of Thomas and Scott streets.
it uses projectors sited half-a-block away and can be seen for up to five kilometres. The projections shine from dusk-1am until June 15.
The free walk is on Thursday at 6pm and bookings are essential. Details: greaterdandenong.com/nocturnal or 92395100.
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