Tracey Moffatt: Laudanum and other works

Overview

Still trying to get your head around Tracey Moffatt's bold, brave (and sometimes obscure) art legacy? The good folks at the Art Gallery of New South Wales are giving you a helping hand this winter. And they're not charging you a cent for the pleasure.

As the holders of the largest collection of Tracey Moffatt pieces in Australia, the Gallery has handpicked some of the legendary Australian artist's key works for display, in an exhibition titled Laudanum and other works. The selected artworks — on show until September 4 — will explore Moffatt's interest in melodrama and cinema through both her still and moving image works.

Even though Laudanum (1998) and Plantation (2009) were created more than 11 years apart, their exploration of fear, desire and high drama is linked through the motif of colonial architecture. In between working on them, she joined forces with Gary Hillberg to come up with video montages Love (2003) and Other (2009). The former follows the turbulent journey from romantic love to cruelty, while the second records powerful chemistry erupting between races, sexes and genders.