Bundanon

Vivian Cooper Smith is an artist, graphic designer and educator based in Naarm/Melbourne.

Born in Aotearoa/New Zealand, he lived in Bangladesh and India prior to arriving in Australia in 1987. His art practice is informed by a diffractive methodology (drawing on the work of Karen Barad) that seeks to make visible the representational apparatus of photography and its role in understanding the world.   

Working within the still life traditions of studio photography, Vivian uses haptic and performative processes to explore the conceptual and material possibilities this methodology offers. Everyday materials such as phosphorescent paint, low resolution laser prints, coloured lights and children’s toys are engaged with in a collaborative way to produce photographs that speak as much to their making as to their subject matter. Recently he has also added drawing and collage to his practice.   

Vivian has exhibited extensively across Australia and has work in public, corporate and private collections. 

In residence at Bundanon

Vivian will be using the residency to develop a new series of images that explore the connections between photography and drawing. Using a variety of mark making processes the final works will embody an experimental and playful approach that position photography as a way of thinking about the world.