Billie Culy and Henry Lyons: At the Table

A new collaborative installation is using photography, found objects and audio as a unique means to connect viewers with a small group of Hawke’s Bay people who have become the subjects of unconventional portraits by Billie Culy and Henry Lyons.

Titled ‘At the Table’, Culy and Lyons’ work does not feature images of the participants, rather it focuses on personal objects, accompanied by recorded conversation to tell their stories.

‘At the Table’ speaks to the way identities are created through the objects that we bring into our domestic spaces. Mundane or sentimental, the way objects are collected and arranged in the domestic environment gives a unique and detailed view of a person. Voice recordings add complexity as the subjects of the portraits share recollections, moments and issues from their lives.

In ‘At the Table’ Culy and Lyons ask if it’s possible to break away from the superficial, aggregated representation that is generated in contexts such as online media. Not limited to the things we have in common, ‘At the Table’ is a representation of the lesser seen phenomena and nuances of people’s lives in all their diversity.