“Standing in the silken water, surrounded only by a boundless horizon, I sense a release, a surrendering as the self dissolves.” In the Vanity series, Murray Fredericks (b. 1970) captures ethereal horizons and seemingly immeasurable distances. Wading out into Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre, a 9,500 km2 endorheic salt lake 700 km north of Adelaide, Australia, Fredericks sets up multiple mirrors to picture the glass-like surfaces, offering a “dual experience” as the sky is reflected in the water and all sense of time and place washes away, immersed in “pure space.” The images are mesmeric, a counterpoint to today’s information age, as all sense of human presence disappears, giving way to the phenomena of light, colour and space on a deeply visceral level. Here, the landscape returns to its natural state: being all-consuming and completely enveloping. Fredericks is represented by Hamiltons Gallery, London; Arc One Gallery, Melbourne; and Annandale Galleries, Sydney. murrayfredericks.com.

Image Credits:
1. Murray Fredericks, Mirror 16 (2017). Digital pigment print on cotton rag, edition of 7, 7/7, 120cm x 155cm.
2.Murray Fredericks, Mirror 19 (2017). Digital pigment print on cotton rag, edition of 7, A/P. 120cm x 155cm.
3. Murray Fredericks, Array #9 (2018). Digital pigment print on cotton rag, edition of 7 + 1A/P, 5/7, 120cm x 175cm.
4. Murray Fredericks, Mirror 8 (2017). Digital pigment print on cotton rag, edition of 7, 7/7, 120cm x 155cm.
5. Murray Fredericks, Array #16 (2019). Digital pigment print on cotton rag, edition of 7 + 1A/P, 3/7, 120 x 160cm.
6. Murray Fredericks, Mirror 11 (2017). Digital pigment print on cotton rag, edition of 7, A/P, 120 x 155cm.