Glenn Sloggett - Decrepit

Devoid of people, we read the signs and traces of suburban life in his images of dereliction, failed aspiration and abject domesticity. However these are not pictures of disgust but a sort of affection.

Alasdair Foster Photographica Australis

Decrepit, continues Glenn Sloggett's exploration of the neglected, the derelict, and the out of date. However despite this apparent darkness, Sloggett's images also describe hope and humour in the face of a bleak reality. His disquieting images of everyday suburban spaces prompt both amusement and concern at the same time and in the dumped garbage, forlorn graveyards and empty fairgrounds we see the leftovers of our dreams.

Sloggett's domain is decidedly low-rent - boarding houses, low paid jobs, addictions, neglect & abuse. While the mood is one of sorrow and the images almost forensic in their banality, there is a beauty in these subtle colour images, which exposes both the frailty and persistence of hope.

The images in Sloggett's Lost Man series, shown at Stills Gallery in 2004 spoke of ordinary lives and unfulfilled dreams. A recurrent theme was the dog-eared or shabby remnants of hope and optimism. In one image, the remains of a white picket fence - a symbol of cheery and neat domestic life - becomes a gap-toothed parody of itself. In another, a statue of Jesus, his arms raised to embrace sinners, is devoid of hands.

In 2001, Glenn won the inaugural John and Margaret Baker Memorial Fellowship for an emerging photographer, Albury Regional Art Gallery. His works were featured in Photographica Australis at ARCO 2002. Photographica Australis was also shown at the Singapore Art Museum from August - November 2003, and represented Australia in the 11th Asian Art Biennale, held in Bangladesh in 2004. In 2005 a selection of Sloggett's works were included in The 9th Mois de la Photo in Montreal whose theme 'Image and Imagination' aimed to illuminate the life a photograph takes on in the spectator's mind. The festival comprised twenty-nine solo and group exhibitions of contemporary photography featuring the work of over 60 artists from Australia, Canada, France, Haiti, the UK and USA. A selection of his recent work, Cheaper & Deeper is currently touring around Australia as part of the Australian Centre for Photography's touring program.