Melbourne based artist Atong Atem unveils her new photography exhibition, Portals, today at Mars Gallery, in Melbourne’s Windsor.

This new body of work is a portrait series exploring the intimacy of the medium, and the role of photographers as story tellers. A selection of black and white images in the exhibition are presented as though being viewed through a small portal, which distorts and flips subjects’ features in intriguing ways.

Atong’s career is on the rise. Since completing her Fine Arts degree at RMIT, she has exhibited at Gertrude Contemporary, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Vogue Fashion Fair in Milan, and at art fair Unseen Amsterdam. In 2017, she was the recipient of the inaugural National Gallery of Victoria and MECCA M-Power scholarship. Her work references the work of photographers Malick Sidibe, Philip Kwame Apagya and Seydou Keita, and is inspired by postcolonial identities and the artist’s relationship to culture.

Keep an eye out for later in the year when Atong will exhibit a major body of work at the Immigration Museum as part of new event, PHOTO 2020 International Festival of Photograph!

Portals
Friday February 7–Saturday February 29
Mars Gallery
7 James Street,
Windsor, Victoria