Exhibition: Light. Ash. White – Evan Hancock

‘This black and white photographic narrative captures the partial re-birthing amongst a landscape that still holds on to hectares of remnant white carcasses. Evan’s imagery explores the environment’s current identity, taking into account the passing of time and the acute change created by the ferocious firestorms of the Kinglake, Marysville and Lake Mountain regions.

Light. Ash. White follows on from the black and white style of his debut series From Scratch, this time offering further variation and texture and forming an alternate expression of perspective, incorporating illusion across landscape photographs.

Light. Ash. White features photographs from varying perspectives, showcasing a style where documentation meets fine art photography.’

“The technique I portray in the series covers the use of high contrasts bridged with sections of midtones and texture. This series expands on my previous series style in that I capture a guise where perspective meets the illusion of flat patterns within the one shot causing a somewhat surreal and serene effect. The effect is one that has naturally occurred in the scarring of the landscape and is a characteristic that now shapes the re-emergence of growth in the land.”

Fortyfivedownstairs. Melbourne, until 16 February 2019

Evan Hancock is a Photographer and Motion Design Director where his interest in photography began with his father’s Pentax SLR at the age of 12. The idea of capturing a single moment in time ignited his imagination and passion for photography from the darkroom to digital and then followed by screen content with new emerging technology.

His professional experience has explored motion graphic design on small and large format projects across Australia and internationally revealing his innovation and capacity to integrate screen, interactive and experiential within the advertising sector. Utilizing this exposure to commercial formats has allowed Evan to develop and articulate his storytelling qualities into the medium of photography, a practice undertaken between commercial assignments that has lent to capturing diverse cultural and landscape stills.

Evan’s expression is derived from incorporating his interests of exploring cultures, places and people and the natural environment. With a camera always on hand, his practice varies with the travel associated. This can involve unplanned moments in transit between an office location to a hotel room to the more deliberate ventures that involve hiking, touring areas via air and location scouting. His approach can at times require repeat visits to particular locations for further intimacy. This is where observation and his thought process starts to materialize for particular shots when envisioning a series.

Evan’s second series Light. Ash. White. follows on from the black and white style of his debut series From Scratch. This time offering further variation and texture and forming an alternate expression of perspective, incorporating an illusion across landscape shots.

With these varying components to the work, his style in fact bridges fine art photography that meets documentation. It is that gap between photojournalism and a piece that sits within someone’s own space that also lends itself to a greater story and allows for the viewer’s curiosity to look deeper and find something more for themselves.