Lilli Waters: She Raw
Mixing brutal realism with pure fantasy, Lilli Waters’ SHE RAW focuses on the woman, and the contrasts that define a woman’s life – peace and anguish, beauty and ugliness, refuge and danger. Two years after beginning this work, SHE RAW is now complete and showing at Blak Dot Gallery, East Brunswick, Australia.
This series of photographic portraits uncovers fascinations of the many mysteries and truths which lie, often undiscovered, beneath a woman’s skin. Waters propels us into the untold relationships we have with ourselves and the women around us, giving us further insight into the contrasts of external beauty and internal sanctums.
fluoro talked to Waters about SHE RAW, her creative discoveries and her reasons for creating such powerful and poignant images.
(f) What have you discovered over the last two years spent creating this exhibition?
(LW) Throughout the making of the SHE RAW project I have discovered many beautiful things, such as friends, skills, confidence and an overwhelming sense of support and unity.
(f) The stories you weave with your images are dense, and provide no easy answers to the problem of violence against women. What are your main messages you are trying to get across with these works?
(LW) I find myself attracted to strong contrasts, such as peace with anguish, beauty with ugliness, refuge with danger. They create a certain tension between the two extremes where there is no place to rest. I have found that there can be a very strong, yet fine line between the perception of love when it comes to violent relationships, building confusion in the need for another whilst also fearing them. Reflecting over the SHE RAW portraits, perhaps there is an unconscious interpretation of the calm before the storm and the distress that comes with destruction, which is something that I have found comes with living with violence.
SHE RAW is currently on at Blak Dot Gallery, East Brunswick, Australia, and runs until Sunday 13 May 2012. Entry by gold coin donation, with all proceeds going to White Ribbon Australia, an organisation that works towards the prevention of violence against women in Australia.
