Image: Moffatt, Tracey Suburban landscape no. 3 'Bullied here' from the series 'Spirit landscapes' 2013 digital print hand coloured in water crayon QUT Art Collection Purchased 2015.
This work is a digital print, hand coloured with crayon on paper and measures 81 centimetres high by 99 centimetres wide and is from the ‘Spirit Landscapes’ series by the artist. It has a wide, white border and is displayed in a thin white frame. The work is editioned 3 of 8 in pencil in the bottom left, moving towards the right in the middle is Bullied Here – Spirit Landscapes and in the bottom right the work is signed Tracey Moffatt 2013. The work was donated by the artist to the QUT Art Collection in 2015.
The work is a black and white photograph of a street in suburbia. On the right-hand side, closest to the viewer, is a lowset timber house, with two windows with security screens and venetian blinds. A standard, tall wooden fence borders the property. Alongside the fence and moving into the distance on a diagonal is a concrete footpath, beside a road, a gutter and storm drain and a length of dry, patchy grass which leads to a street corner and sign. The street name cannot be made out on the sign. Above the house run two lengths of powerline and in the background the landscape is framed by large trees and a sky thick with clouds.
Across the top half of the photograph is the word BULLIED, stencilled in capital letters directly onto the work in coloured crayon. Working from left to right these crayon colours are red, yellow, light blue, green, orange, purple and brown. In the bottom half of the work is the word HERE, again in stencilled capital letters in coloured crayon in the colours pink, orange, yellow and light blue. The letters fill the entire surface of the photograph and are transparent exposing the photograph and scene beneath. The capitalisation of the letters and their presence packing into the work’s surface creates a feeling of declaration on the viewer, of of a significant event or experience, a slogan, advertisement or poster.
Tracey Moffatt is one of Australia’s most renowned contemporary artists, both nationally and internationally. Working predominantly in photography and film for over three decades, Moffatt is known as a powerful visual storyteller. The narrative in her work is often implied and self-referential, exploring her own childhood memories, Aboriginal heritage and the broader issues of race, gender, sexuality and identity.