Artist's Statement - 'Staged' - virtual photographs

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Photography for me is the underpainting (grisaille) of my work. My images often start with a photograph of a place - which I see as an empty stage. I set the scene with fragments of other photographs, building on the essence of what I felt at the original place.

While some of my images have started from a memory, like a half-remembered picture in a children's book (My Forest/Framing the Kaipara), most have grown from the desire to fill this photographic stage, and to create a more personal, perfected reality.

Yvonne Westra 2003

Short CV:

1955 - Born in Auckland
1986 - The Show is Over: Photographs of the Auckland Zoo, Solo Show, Auckland/Wellington
1998 - IDG Digital Photography Awards, Grand Prize Winner
2000 - The Active Eye/Update, PhotoForum Internet Exhibition
2003 - The Ranges of Inspiration, Group Show, Corbans Estate Arts Centre, Auckland