Body art inspired by Western Australia’s landscape is the focus of a new art exhibition by local artist Lora Flora and photographer Jamie McWilliam.
Meet Me in the Background is the title of the collaboration which has resulted in an exhibition of photographs containing 14 body painted models in iconic places across Perth and the south west.
Nine locations were visited including Serpentine Falls.
Each body was painted with a mixture of flour, water and paint to create textured artwork.
Lora and Jamie used moss and ferns in some landscapes to create the illusion the models were part of each forest.
The idea sprung when Lora visited Europe in 2018, where she attended a body art festival and met European artists who blended bodies into alpine and mountain landscapes.
“I wasn’t aware of anything similar in Australia, I hadn’t seen that style of body art before,” Lora said.
“COVID happened and we couldn’t travel, so Jamie and I decided to use the idea to celebrate the beautiful landscape we have in WA.”
“It’s taken us nearly a year to visit all the sites we wanted and get all the photo’s to create a series for the exhibition.”
Serpentine Falls was chosen due to the contrast between the water and rocks, creating a diverse landscape.
“Serpentine was chosen because of the stunning red rocks and water creating an interesting location,” she said.
The models for the photographs were easy to find according to Lora and Jamie, they met one of the models when scouting a site in Bicton for their photos.
“It was one of those small world moments, he said he had always wanted to be a body paint model.
“It was pretty interesting that we bumped into each other on that date,” said Jamie.
The exhibition will be held at PS Art Space in Fremantle from March 5 to 16, Tuesday – Sunday from 10am to 4pm.
