Tracy Moffatt is an Australian-born artist who is well-known for her photography. Born in Brisbane in 1960, Moffatt’s area of expertise was her photography as well as video. Moffatt’s work focuses mainly on the provoking reflections of contemporary Australian life, as well as post colonial theory (WMM). She attended Queensland College of Art, where she studied visual communications (MCA). Moffatt first rose to relevance in the world of photography when she unveiled her series titled “Something More,” the series that set the tone for her later work, as well as the particular series that will be the focal point of this post. Moffatt’s career also focused on short films, such as “Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy, Bedevil and Heaven.” Focusing on Moffatt’s “Something More” series, specifically the first photo, entitled “Something More #1,” Moffatt is depicting what appears to be a helpless young girl “trapped” in a world that doesn’t offer what she wants, hoping for … you guessed it … something more.
“Something More #1”
The photo (pictured at right) shows a young woman dressed very nicely (at least nicer than the others in the photo) leaning against a wooden shack. She has a dazed look in her eye, as if she’s daydreaming. Inside of the shack are a male and a female (presumably the girl’s parents or friends). The female is leaning against the wall, unkempt, smoking a cigarette while the man is at a table pounding down alcohol. Outside of the shack are three young children, who are all dressed in very tattered and torn clothes, with no shoes to be found. Behind these children is a beautiful setting, with clear blue skies and a large field off in the horizon; if the viewer had only seen this portion of the picture, it would look as if it were a joyous scenario. However, when scrolling back to the focal point, the young woman in the middle, the viewer can automatically get the assumption that she is displeased with something.
What I believe this piece is trying to illustrate is that the main character — the young woman — is gazing off into her future, realizing that if life goes “as planned,” then she’ll end up just like the aforementioned people in the shack. I believe that the children on the left side of the picture potentially illustrate the past, whereas the couple on the right illustrate the future, and our protagonist is stuck somewhere in the middle, wanting to grow up and leave her childhood behind, but scared and apprehensive of what she’s to become. Because of this, she’s dreaming of something more than just the life she’s been accustomed to for all of her years; something much more glamorous and more prestigious than what she believes will happen.
“Something More #9”
Throughout the rest of the “Something More” series, the young woman is shown as restless, obtaining a fancy gown and attempting to leave town on the road to her new life. However, the final picture illustrates the young woman laying dead in the road that was supposed to lead her to her new glamorous life (National Gallery of Australia). In the final picture, Moffatt depicts the woman as being potentially run over, lying spread out in the middle of the road. Near her is a road sign saying “Brisbane: 300 miles” pointing in the direction that she was walking, leading us to believe the the life she had always dreamed of would be in Brisbane, and that’s obviously where she was heading.
Through this series Moffatt was able to portray a common theme in society, allowing many of the viewers to relate. However, she very well may have also taught us a lesson. Through the young woman who wasn’t content with her upbringing and striving for something more glamorous and ritzy, Moffatt connected with many viewers who potentially feel the same way. However, with the final photograph in “Something More,” Moffatt may have been hinting that not everyone’s dreams can always come true and that the chances taken to achieve these wants are sometimes not worth the end result.
Works Cited / Used
- Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Something More (series). <http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/26/Tracey_Moffatt/75/32682/>
- National Gallery of Australia. Tracey Moffatt. <http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?View=LRG&IRN=148563>
- Woman Make Movies. Tracey Moffatt. 2005. <http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm253.shtml>
- Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Tracey Moffatt. <http://www.mca.com.au/collection/artist/moffatt-tracey/>
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