Water Body

Former “Profile Picture” interviewee Aaron Walker has just concluded an eye-catching exhibition, capturing his dynamic aerial world, as part of the Midsumma Festival.

When Southbank Local News last caught up with Aaron in July last year, he provided us with a fascinating insight into his acclaimed drag artist portraiture series, as well as his background as a circus aerialist.

His latest exhibition Water Body captures the raw power and seductive beauty of soaking wet, suspended acrobats in what is presented as a dynamic portrait series capturing the visual power of water on the body.

According to Aaron, aerialists have an immense respect and understanding of the dangers involved in their work. They use their unique movement qualities to dance beautifully in the air against gravity and, in this case, a cold fresh torrent of water.

Aaron said the shock of the water had an immediate visceral effect on how the artists chose to move, which created a sense of reverence and surrender once fully immersed in the cold downpour.

He said American video artist Bill Voila had inspired his work as it drew heavily on natural elements and especially water.

“Since all my circus work is airborne I wanted to contrast the aerial choreography by introducing water as a secondary element that would affect the performers movement quality and create a more unique portrait of each one,” he said.

“The symbolism to me was all about using water as a metaphor for the qualities that the performers already imbue – fluidity, sensuality, flow, power, strength, force, immersion and so on.”

“By focusing on how water is used within our own language the term ‘body of water’ appealed to me, and this was an idea that I simply expanded upon – a body and water, bodies with water, water bodies.”

Aaron brings to his photography 25 years of experience as an international circus artist and he uses these physical skills and production knowledge to inform his unique style of capturing dynamic aerial movement.

He said the production challenges that had come with creating this series was one of the aspects he had enjoyed the most.

“It is a safe and familiar area for me so the main appeal for this project was the challenging production side – creating a giant indoor shower in a space where I could suspend amazing aerialists and light and capture them in the right way,” he said.

“I am also driven to get real life, collectable printed artwork out into the public that is captivating and unusual. With this exhibition I wanted to present a different way of seeing aerialists by using water to amplify the aesthetic of the circus aerialist.”

While the exhibition at Chapel Off Chapel Theatre in Prahran has since concluded, prints of Aaron’s series can be viewed and purchased online at aaronwalkerphotography.com