‘Carol Jerrems: Portraits’ is presented as a 250 lineal metre display ribbon that weaves across two galleries at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. The chromatic ribbon, inspired by Jerrems’ contact sheets, backgrounds and unifies over 140 gelatin silver photographs by one of Australia’s most iconic photographers.
The design intervention needed to be singular and bold to respond to a brief to display approximately 140 photographs in a single line within near identical frames. The design is conceived as a ribbon, a device used to weave through two galleries, to create several intimate rooms and a chromatic backdrop to the iconic works. Strategically placed apertures visually link works in dialogue across different thematic sections.
The ribbon reconsiders traditional temporary walls that often sit with great heft within existing galleries. Instead the 2 metre high ribbon is elevated off the floor expressing a visible light steel structure. The scale and proportions of the intervention are guided by existing datum lines drawn from the existing architecture. Design of apertures and their glossy finish are an ode to the presence of rectangular mirrors in several of Jerrems’ photographs, in particular, ‘Ambrose Campbell, 1973’.
The composition is minimal visually and structurally. The purposeful play of colours, textures, cuts and apertures are designed to resonate with Jerrems’ displayed photographs, and lends a sense of the unexpected and playfulness as the visitor follows the trail of the ribbon.
Instead of a conventional solid and visually recessive design, the design proposes a furniture for viewing and is assertive in its display of colour and structure. The intervention, prominent in space, recedes when viewing the photographs at close proximity. New exciting curatorial opportunities resulted for our client to create complex and layered visual links between artworks and spaces.
We imagined the intervention as a sculpture conceptually derived from the artist’s contact sheets - layouts of continuous imagery with cuts made within. The elevated “sheets” weave through the gallery to create rooms within rooms, “cuts” are positioned to draw the visitor forward.
The project is also radical in its sustainable approach to exhibition design. Rather than a single-use intervention, as is customary, the steel skeleton and E0 MDF cladding is designed for disassembly, able to be stored as a permanent piece of gallery inventory for re-use in future exhibitions.
The design takes a forward, sculptural approach rather than a recessive conventional gallery display.
Material use and custodianship has been carefully considered. For an extensive display area, especially compared to a conventional MDF-based exhibition design, minimal raw materials are used. 54% of the display is upon existing gallery walls, where the new “ribbon” device has been achieved with a layer of paint.
This is also an example of circular design, with an end use case considered and designed for. The panellised cladding and modular armatures are designed for storage and reuse, fully or partially, for future exhibitions.
Photography: Hamish McIntosh
Client: National Portrait Gallery
Curatorial team: Isobel Parker Philip, Pippa Milne, Magda Keaney
Exhibitions team: Katrina Power, Jamie Turbet and James Ley
Builder: Canberra Commercial Contractors
Structural Engineer: Nikki Akbari / Partridge
