Alex Fredriksson  / Throwing Stones

Curated and translated by 咏晖 Yonghui (Donna) Huang

in connection with the 2023 correspondences Colleagues program for early career producers

Exhibition dates: 7-23 December 2023

Throwing Stones is supported by the Creative Arts Department and the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU).

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In the stale air cushioned between the panes of a double glazed window exists us.
Monitoring ourselves monitoring ourselves, reflected twelve times over and fading to silica green.
Our specular self roams damp asphalt roads and watches as we ricochet between the glass.
Fated to be suspended in static ether
- Alexander Fredriksson

In Throwing Stones, emerging visual artist Alex Fredriksson examines the idea of home and self-development as part of a wider study into the constructed nature of photography and the possibilities of creating alternate visual and psychological realities.

In the exhibition space, Alex presents a series of new photographic works alongside a selection from his Glass Homes exhibit first presented in 2022. It begins with a question: what do we truly perceive about ourselves when we gaze into and out of windows, onto different places and spaces?

Windows demarcate, separating inside from outside, self from other.  In Throwing Stones, the window - brought to life in the design of the exhibition via the use of the gallery’s architecture - functions as a literal and metaphorical gateway for two areas of thematic contemplation. 

1: Separating Illusion from Reality, the Perception of Home
As a child in Perth, Alex spent his formative years on construction sites with his father, watching houses/homes being built - lives being made. As an onlooker, the windows of dwellings began to take on a particular meaning as a symbol of the idea of home.

After relocating to Naarm, Alex found himself reevaluating windows afresh. Living alone, separated from his loved ones, the windows no longer expressed the same sense of nostalgia, comfort and connectivity. On the contrary, they separated, isolated and expressed his aloneness, an emotional experience explored in the video work.

Presented here alongside earlier photographic works from his Glass Homes series, which was born from the warmth of cherished memories of home and everyday life in Perth, the juxtaposition reveals the constructed nature of our nostalgia for home, as Alex says, ‘a filtered illusion seen through rose-coloured glasses.’ 

2: Seeking Self and Home, Seeing Ourselves Reflected
When we look into the lives of others, we are not merely peering into their interiors; often, their lives evoke associations with our own. We are, in fact, looking at our reflected selves when observing others through their windows – or, in Alex’s case, the camera - like a mirror. 

These reflections may originate from our past, present, or imaginings about potential future selves. Each day, we cast fleeting glances into the windows of others, embarking on a journey through the ever-shifting identities and selves that reside within us. 

In his new photographs, Alex plays with colour, light and printing techniques to express his evolving perception of home, identity and understanding of self that occurs when we contemplate our own reflections through different windows, places and spaces. 

We recommend exploring the exhibit in the front room first. Afterwards, look through the window or walk into the rear studio space to look at the works on the back wall more closely and gaze back into the main space.

 Gymnopédie No. 1 (Slowed + reverb)

Alex Fredriksson, 2021
Single-channel video, colour, sound
10 mins

sonder (definition): The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it.

— John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (2021)

Slowed + reverb continues Alex’s rumination on the idea of home, this time examining the act of gazing outward through a window of his apartment building in Naarm.

The video zooms in and out in sequences, from close-up to further and further away, until the windows depicted are specks in a sea of windows that light up the adjacent buildings. The sequences repeat again and again while Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1 plays.

Deliberately slowed and infused with found sounds recorded on the apartment balcony, the video strikes a slightly dissonant, melancholy note, mirroring the artist’s evolving sense of loneliness and isolation as he looks on with the camera.

And, yet, in those familiar sequences that elapse into a sea of window lights, there is, paradoxically for Alex, a sense of hopeful connection or what he thinks of as ‘sonder’, the term defined by writer John Koenig in his book, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (2021).

Tomb

Alex Fredriksson, 2022
Type-C print on Kodak ENDURA Premier paper
128 by 104 cm

501

Alex Fredriksson, 2022
type-C print on Kodak ENDURA Premier paper 
96 by 140 cm

These two pieces belong to Alex’s 2022 Glass Homes exhibit, a collection that delved into the themes of home, childhood, and nostalgia.

During Alex’s daily commute in Perth, passing by the same cemetery became a ritual. The tombstone, viewed by Alex as a symbol of his childhood, was “forever the way it was, being the glue of all things.” The monumental permanence expressed in this photograph, coupled with the flow and movement of passing traffic captured behind ‘501’ - the number of a bus route that defined much of his childhood, always passing by the same electrical box pictured, ubiquitous with a similar sense of solidity - together invite contemplation on the nature of our self-development journey amidst fleeting moments and eternal recurrences. It also reminds us of the contrast between the blurred and, at times, illusory nature of our memories and the emotional solidity embedded in memory. 

Upon initial observation, the tombstone piece may not evoke sentiments typically associated with warmth and nostalgia. However, while the sunset transitions from gold to blue and purple, this neon-like blue and purple tone represents the sunset colour for the artist. As Alex puts it, "You either see things white or blue when the sun is down."

These two pieces capture the outdoor scenes of Perth, echoing the artist's perspective that the feeling of home transcends indoor spaces. For him, the warmth of an evening in Perth outdoors reminds him of the essence of home.

Words Can Never Hurt You

Alex Fredriksson, 2023
inkjet fine art print on Ilford Smooth Pearl paper
90 x 60cm

Words Can Never Hurt You is one of Alex’s new works made for the Throwing Stones exhibition. Alex captured it while walking along the Birrarung (Yarra) river one evening when the water was reflective like glass. 

In this work, Alex examines the shared characteristics of the two mediums, glass and water and the way that the camera works to construct/deconstruct the appearance of the river’s reflective surface. 

Light permeates and reflects on these transparent mediums in a similar way. However, various factors, such as scattering and refraction, that happen in the camera, can contribute to the appearance of the river reflected in the photograph, not unlike a depiction of a glass surface or indeed, any subject in camera. 

The dynamic and alterable nature of reflections prompts the question: When we gaze upon our own reflection, what implications does it hold for our representation of identity, our sense of self?

Have you also noted the correlation between the colours of the window lights in this piece and those of Alex’s earlier works, Tombstone and 501? 

To the Soul

Alex Fredriksson, 2021
Type-C print on Kodak ENDURA Premier paper  
138 by 91 cm

To the Soul is a new work capturing an empty apartment Alex inspected as a prospective tenant.

In the photograph, Alex deconstructs the very essence of home by isolating its external structure from its interior to examine how much of the feeling of home persists when the familiar contents of everyday domestic life - objects, equipment and materials - are removed. 

While the empty room pictured conveyed a sense of ‘aloneness’, where the sun streamed in and cast those familiar shadows from the window, for Alex, there was a sense of nostalgia and hope for the future of this prospective home - for someone like him. 

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Voyeur series

Alex Fredriksson, 2023
Type-C prints on Ilford Multigrade RC Deluxe paper 
9 by 14 cm

In this collection of small-format works, Alex examines the ethical realm of voyeurism and the camera when peering into the windows of others. 

Contrasting with Alex’s previous preference for vibrant, saturated colours, this series of black and white photographs intentionally challenges and re-evaluates Alex’s usual representations of the idea of home. 

These images capture the external facades of homes, emphasising windows and the illuminated spaces within that separate the photographer from the interior lives inside. 

Together with the black-and-white medium, the framing of the photographs conveys a sense of nostalgia while also questioning the social propriety of looking into people’s private homes.