Debra Phillips
{{Short description|Australian photographer (born 1958)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
|name = Debra Phillips
|birth_name =
|image =
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|birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1958}}
|birth_place = Melbourne, Australia
|death_date =
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|spouse =
|education = Dip. Art, 1977–1979 Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, NSW.
MVA, 1987–1990 Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, NSW.
BA, 1982 Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, NSW{{cite web|title=Debra Phillips|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/debra-phillips/|publisher=Design and Art Australia |accessdate=22 March 2015}}
| occupation = Artist: Photographer, sculptor
| nationality = Australian
}}
Debra Phillips (born 1958) is an Australian artist. Her main practice is photography but she also works across other forms such as sculpture and moving image. She has been an exhibiting artist since the 1980s, is a part of many collections, and has won multiple awards for her work. Phillips resides in Sydney and is a senior lecturer at The College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.{{cite web|title=Debra Phillips|url=http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/288.1987/|publisher=Art Gallery of New South Wales|accessdate=29 January 2015}}
Biography
Debra Phillips was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1958. In 1977, Phillips relocated to Sydney, Australia, to start a Dip. Art at Sydney College of the Art, University of Sydney, NSW. Starting in the 1980s, her works have been a part of many solo and group exhibitions across Australia, totalling in 54 exhibitions.{{cite web|title= Exhibitions|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/debra-phillips/events/?|publisher=Design and Art Australia |accessdate=22 March 2015}} Still residing in Sydney today, Phillips is a senior lecturer at The College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.{{cite web|title=Debra Phillips|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/debra-phillips/|publisher=Design and Art Australia |accessdate=22 March 2015}}
Work and publications
Debra Phillips was one of the women artists of the 1980s and early 1990s. Her work encapsulates her personal interests in questioning different forms of representation histories and identity.{{cite book|last1=French|first1=Blair|title=Photo Files: an Australian photography reader|date=1999|publisher=Power Publications|isbn=1-86487-053-2|page=9}} Recurring themes throughout her work include disappearance and obsolesce, contemporary life and utilising photography as a structure of representation and how it supposedly shows a true perception of the real world. Her work represents a collapse of time into the present. It is self-consciously aesthetic, this allows the viewer to think if the images resist becoming just surface appearances and if they invite fear of depth/deeper meanings.{{cite book|last1=French|first1=Blair|title=Photo Files: an Australian photography reader|date=1999|publisher=Power Publications|isbn=1-86487-053-2|page=94}}
Phillips is represented in private, national, and international collections. Her work has been published in numerous places including: Twelve Australian Photo Artists (Blair French and Daniel Palmer, Sydney: Piper Press, 2009) and in Look: Contemporary Australian Photography Since 1980 (Anne Marsh, Melbourne: MacMillan Art Publishing, 2010).{{cite web|title=Debra Phillips|url=https://www.artdesign.unsw.edu.au/about-us/our-staff/ms-debra-phillips|publisher=UNSW Australia |accessdate=22 March 2015}}
Notable works
= Balance of obsolescence (1987) =
This series of Type C photographs (100.0 × 100.0 cm) was a part of a solo exhibition at the First Draft gallery, Sydney, and also group exhibition "Constructed Images" at The Australian National Gallery, Canberra in 1987. In 1989 it was a part of exhibition "Tableaux Mourant: Photography and Death", Fine Arts Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart.{{cite book|last1=Crombie; Byron|first1=Isobel; Sandra|title=Twenty contemporary Australian photographers: from the Hallmark Cards Australian Photographic Collection|date=1990|publisher=Melbourne: National Gallery of Victoria|isbn=0-7241-0142-X|page=47}}
Now it is a part of the Art Gallery of NSW collection.{{Cite web|title=Works from the collective title Balance of Obsolescence {{pipe}} Art Gallery of NSW|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?group_accession=263.1988-266.1988|access-date=2021-09-05|website=www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au}}
= Series "The Colonisation of time" X (1990) =
This cibachrome series (119 × 149 × 5 cm) by Debra Phillips focuses on photography's links to science and technology as well as placing a large emphasis on westernisation. The title suggests issues between European colonisation within Australia and the massive technology progress throughout the globalised world.{{cite book|last1=French|first1=Blair|title=Photo Files: an Australian photography reader|date=1999|publisher=Power Publications|isbn=1-86487-053-2|page=92}} Each photograph in the series features a large X that crosses the image. This help supports the interrelated themes of colonisation, photography, time, representation, technology and the land.{{cite book|last1=Marsh|first1=Anne|title=Look: Contemporary Australian Photography Since 1980|date=2010|publisher=South Yarra: Macmillan Art|page=264}}{{Cite web|title=Debra Phillips: photos {{pipe}} AustralianPhotographers.org|url=http://www.australianphotographers.org/artists/debra-phillips/photos#1140|access-date=2021-09-05|website=www.australianphotographers.org}}
= Untitled 2 "From the street" (1997) =
This image is a part of the series "From the Street" which includes 18 black and white images printed onto metallic silver paper, aluminium (100 × 150 cm).{{Cite web|title=Debra Phillips: photos {{pipe}} AustralianPhotographers.org|url=http://www.australianphotographers.org/artists/debra-phillips/photos#1068|access-date=2021-09-05|website=www.australianphotographers.org}} The series was created in the earlier days of Phillips's practice when she had an interest in traces of everyday life, surrounding street and graffiti. When viewed individually this image becomes an abstract element that alludes to the mutable and ephemeral qualities of codes.{{cite book|last1=Marsh|first1=Anne|title=Look: Contemporary Australian Photography Since 1980|date=2010|publisher=South Yarra: Macmillan Art|page=156}}
Exhibitions
Total of 54 group or solo exhibitions both national and international.{{cite web|title= Exhibitions|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/debra-phillips/events/?|publisher=Design and Art Australia |accessdate=22 March 2015}} Exhibitions include galleries such as:
- 2008: Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane.{{cite web|title=Optimism 2008|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/contemporary-australia-optimism/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- 2006: The Captain's Ghost: Three contemporary artists on Cook, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.{{cite web|title=The Captain's Ghost 2006|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/the-captains-ghost-three-contemporary-artists-on-cook/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- 2004: COFA Fundraising Exhibition, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, NSW.{{cite web|title=COFA Fundraising Exhibition|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/cofa-fundraising-exhibition/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- 2000: Death and Decoration, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS.{{cite web|title=Death and Decoration, 2000|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/death-and-decoration-1/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- 1998: Site, Parliament House, Canberra, ACT.{{cite web|title=Site, 1998|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/site-1/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate=13 December 2017}}
- 1996: Photography is Dead! Long Live Photography!, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW.{{cite web|title=Photography is dead...|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/photography-is-dead-long-live-photography-2/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- 1995: Debra Phillips: Work 1992-1995, Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney, NSW.{{cite web|title=Debra Phillips: Work|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/debra-phillips-work-1992-1995/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- 1981: with Rick Bolzan, Bondi Pavilion, Sydney, NSW.{{cite web|title=Exhibition 1981|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/debra-phillips-with-ric-bolzan/|website=Design and Art Australia |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
Collections
- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Tate Gallery, London, England, UK
- Library of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, United States
- The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT
- Parliament House, Canberra, ACT
- Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, France
- Artbank
Books
- Debra Phillips, Index, Sydney, 1995{{cite web|title= Artist Publications |url= http://www.breenspace.com/artists/Debra%20Phillips/ |publisher=BREENSPACE |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
- Debra Phillips, Source, Sydney, 1999{{cite web|title= Artist Publications |url= http://www.breenspace.com/artists/Debra%20Phillips/ |publisher=BREENSPACE |accessdate= 13 December 2017}}
Awards
- 2007, Recipient – COFA Travel Grant (Academic Staff){{cite web|title=2007, COFA Travel Grant|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/recognition/2007-recipient-cofa-travel-grant-academic-staff/|website=Design and Art Australia}}
- 2005, National Photographic Purchase Award, Albury Regional Art Gallery{{cite web|title=National Photographic Purchase Award, Albury Regional Art Gallery|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/recognition/2005-national-photographic-purchase-award-albury-regional-art-gallery/|website=Design and Art Australia}}
- 2002, Australia Council New Work Grant{{cite web|title=2002 Australia Council New Work Grant|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/recognition/2002-australia-council-new-work-grant/|website=Design and Art Australia}}
- 1996, Australia Council Visual Arts/Craft Fund Fellowship{{cite web|title=Australia Council Visual Arts/Craft Fund Fellowship|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/recognition/1996-australia-council-visual-artscraft-fund-fellowship/|website=Design and Art Australia}}
- 1982, Recipient – Australia Council Visual Arts Board Travel Grant{{cite web|title=Recipient – Australia Council Visual Arts Board Travel Grant|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/recognition/1982-recipient-australia-council-visual-arts-board-travel-grant/|website=Design and Art Australia}}