Hovering on the fringes of ancient and imagined, Kate Ballis interrupts the cadence of time. Utilising her mythic and scientific prowess, she ushers in a series of photographic artworks alongside AI-generated images, creating a shifting space where incongruent timelines sit in perfect harmony.
The dualities of fast and slow, micro and macro, fantasy and reality are held together within these new works. Linear time is stretched forwards and backward concurrently, synthesised into a single moment of existence - a heartfelt homage to the enduring, and a wild celebration of the imagination.
AI dreamscapes with dusty pink fluted foliage rise from pristine azure pools that stretch beyond the picture plane. In these curiously foreign, yet unmistakably ‘Ballis’ images, bubbles like blown glass float among stamen and branches, the perception of elements melting between liquid and gas. Consistently obscured horizon lines and ambiguous light sources create a colossal divinity, a world outside of logical understanding. Her AI vistas project beginnings, emergence, and discovery - creating elements that will endure as divine constants of the future.
Alongside these visual fantasies sit Ballis’ unique interpretation of the planet's primordial inception. Primeval landforms which have stood as supercontinents and entombed extinct species endure as a witness to earth's creation. These photographic works bathe Queensland’s tropical and subtropical rainforests in luminous sienna and rich auburn.
The palette transforms photosynthesising foliage to a warm glow of infinite energy against shimmering teal waters, a vivid source for the proliferation of life. Here Ballis imparts a surrealist view of the landscape where winding staircases, dizzying perspectives, gravity-defying water, and bronzed colours distort reality into a subconscious realm.
Yet while elements of the surreal are more present here than in earlier series, the act of seeing ‘beyond reality’ has ultimately defined Ballis’ oeuvre. Since her first foray with a converted full-spectrum digital camera in 2017, the ambition to unveil the unseen, acting as a conduit between truth and possibility, has consistently propelled her creative impetus.
A visual storyteller, Ballis presents us with unfathomable imagery and creates an unknown yet paradoxically familiar landscape. As she describes, “This series invites us into liminal realms, to pause and quietly witness the beauty and the endless stretch of time”. It is only through her interventions that we have access to a myth and magic just beyond human perception. Ballis presents us with new possibilities in real and imagined space, reframing the perception of time as an infinite state.
