Suellen Symons

Suellen Symons is an artist photographer who has throughout her 30 year career incorporated painted backdrops, sculptural forms made into props, theatrical spaces and re interpretation of history in the original historic buildings around Australia and in the Northern territory, Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and New South Wales especially.

Working as a photography lecturer at College of Fine Arts UNSW, the Tin Sheds Art Workshop at Sydney University, Werrington and EORA TAFEs, as well as a Visual Arts photography Digital Media teacher at various secondary schools she has influenced a generation of future artists and architects, film makers and photographers.   Symons has mainly lived in Sydney and has travelled the world studying art and making art. Originally a painter Symons became interested and then hooked with photography at College of Fine Arts UNSW where she did her Bachelor of Visual Arts in the early 80s. She has two Masters Degrees from the Universities of Sydney and Western Sydney.

Symons has lived in New York, Tokyo, Paris and London staying in Australia Council and Art Gallery of NSW residencies and then staying on longer until she stayed for six months in New York, two years in Paris and six months in London.

In terms of exhibitions Symons has held 14 solo shows, of which I have shown multiple times in Australia, Tokyo, Paris and New York. She has exhibited in 40 group shows in Australia. She has been awarded overseas residencies for her artwork to New York, Paris and Great Britain.

Symons enjoys printmaking and solar etching, whilst drawing forms the basis of her ideas for photography and she has begun making short films. She writes art reviews and publishes them on Artshub.

Through her acting as a child and building her own puppet theatre and sets as a twelve year old, as well as writing stories, she developed her story telling which developed later on in narratives in her series of photographs.

For many years, Symons has been photographing twins, featured in Doubletake. Her work with twins has been carried out in an international stage environment most notably in New York.

Symons is represented many local and international public & private collections including: The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT; The International Polaroid Collection, WestLicht Museum of Photography, Wien, Austria; The Graham Nash Collection, Los Angeles, USA; The Belgiorna Nettis Collection, Sydney, Australia; University of NSW (COFA) Collection, Australia; La Bibliotheque Nationale de France; SPADEM Collection, Paris, France; Trinity Grammar School, Sydney, Australia.

Exhibitions

Doubletake 2016

Coterie Depot Gallery Danks Street

Lost in Place 2014

Damien Minton Gallery

October Unseen 2014

10x8 Gallery

Time and Sensibility 2013

ArtHere Exhibition Space