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An exhibition of portraits by William Debois, revisiting the young subjects he photographed 5 years ago for his MILK TEETH exhibition. 9:30am-5pm Monday to Friday until 9 October 2020
All are welcome to come view the exhibition and discover for yourself what changes may have occurred over 5 years.
MILK TEETH REVISITED
July 2014: William has moved to Australia with his family about 18 months earlier and his eldest son, Jackson, has just turned 7. He has started to lose his baby teeth and the process fascinates William. All human beings go through this very odd time of dropping teeth too small for their gums in favour of teeth too big for their face. As a photographer, this is visually very interesting, so William decides to get in touch with parents at Jackson’s school and create a series of portraits for a collective exhibition called (appropriately) "The Collective", at Creative Gladstone, located on Auckland St at the time.
Along with the very obvious physical transition associated with the loss of milk teeth, there is usually a noticeable change in the children’s character around that milestone. A little like a crab or a yabbi shedding their exoskeleton, it seems that the children suddenly assert their identity and grow into a person that not only has the innocence of a young child, but also unsettling confidence that can easily turn into defiance. Most interestingly, the children he photographed were never embarrassed about their smile full of gaps, or about their stumpy new teeth. Some delighted in “grossing out” the adults by pulling, pushing, swaying their half detached teeth, and laughed at the horrified looks they triggered.
Five years on, Jackson is 13 and there are too many teeth for his face. He cares about his hair, mostly by not brushing it, and is far more aware of the power of photographs than the 7 years old version of himself. William realised that it was probably time for him to revisit that little project and see how the children he photographed in 2014 may have changed. This exhibition is the result of the second series of portraits with 11 out of the 16 children originally photographed.
We will let you decide what may have changed…
EXHIBITION DATES
28 AUGUST - 9 OCTOBER 2020 Mon to Fri 9.30am - 5pm
CONTACT DETAILS
Photopia Studio Gallery Located at Shed #5, 8 Crow Street, Gladstone