Claire Conroy is an Australian artist using unique photographic techniques to create evocative contemporary images. In an era when most photography is taking place in the digital realm, Conroy’s work involves the use of analogue photographic processes, such as the camera obscura, pinhole photography and lensless image making techniques.

Conroy constructs images from found objects, scanners and her own hand crafted pinhole cameras from everyday objects, including a 1950s caravan, a water tank and a three tonne truck. She uses these devices to expose images of the Australian landscape onto photographic paper, creating large scale negatives that reflect Romantic melancholic notions of the landscape and our impact upon it. She develops these negatives using common household supplies and natural substances. Conroy’s works are enigmatic and haunting interpretations of the physical world, reflections on nature, land and people.

Her photographic practice extends to installation where the caravan camera obscura becomes a device to reinterpret landscapes in a playful and immersive way. Within the camera obscura the installations tap into and twist the historic realms of travelling curiosities, Renaissance drawing techniques and the historic carnival of the scientific roadshow.

Conroy’s works have been collected by the NSW State Library, the National Gallery of Australia, the Powerhouse Museum and in private collections across Australia. She is currently working as an artist and gallery educator in Northern NSW.

CV

EDUCATION: 

            2016: MFA. Sydney College of the Arts.

2012: Bachelor of Teaching UTS.

2006: Certificate IV PhotoImaging. Ultimo Tafe.

2004: Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours year - First class honours)

College of Fine Arts (COFA) University of New South Wales.

2000:  Bachelor of Fine Arts University of Western Sydney. 

Selected  Exhibitions:

2022

  • Mullins Conceptual Photography Award. Finalist.

2021

  • YZ Space, Exhibition and Archive- Campbelltown Arts Centre, NSW.

2020

  • Monstrous, Solo Show- Rogue Gallery Redfern Sydney NSW.

2018

  • The End Festival Hill End, NSW.

2017

  • Cementa. Kandos, NSW.

2016

  • Manly Arts Festival. NSW.

2015: 

  • Subversion - Tortuga.

  • Spectrum Now Festival - #42 Burnie Street.

2014

  • ‘Other Worlds,’ Sydney College of the Arts graduate School Gallery.

2013

  • ‘Magnum workshop,’ Sydney Head-On festival.

  • ‘In the garden’ Stur gallery Braidwood NSW.

2012

  • Live Wicked, Cop Shop (Artist Run Initiative Sydney)

  • Dirty Deeds, Eastern Block Gallery (Sydney.)

2011

  • Through Hell and High Water, Crissie Cotter Gallery (Sydney.)

2010

  • CarriageARTworks, Sydney Fringe Festival Carriage works (Sydney.)

  • Cats and Ladders, Cats and Ladders, Alpha House Gallery (Sydney.)

2009

  • The Sydney Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Powerhouse Museum.

2008

  • The Visitors, Penrith Regional Gallery.

 

Grants, Residencies and Scholarships:

2014 James Kentley Memorial Scholarship.

2013 - 2015 APA and Sydney University Alumni Scholarship.

2011 Australia Council for the Arts- New Work-Emerging-Artists Grant.

2009 Bundanon. The Arthur Boyd Trust. Residency.

2008 Underbelly Arts Residency, Carriage Works.

2008 Bill and George arts Residency. Bill and George (Sydney)

2007 IASKA. International Art space Kellerberrin. Residency.

2006: Lightspeed. Mori Gallery Sydney.

Collections:

The Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo.

The NSW State Library.

National Gallery of Australia.

Work :·   

2021 - now. Education and Audience Development Officer - Tweed Regional Gallery.

2017 - 2021: Visual Art and Photography Teacher: Bradfield Senior College.

2016 - 2017: Casual Academic: Sydney College of the Arts, Faculty of Photo Media and Screen Arts.

2012 - 2016: Visual Arts / Photography teacher: Newtown High School of the Performing Arts.