Marie Shannon
Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1960
The Rat in the Lounge
- 1985
- Silver gelatin print, selenium toned
- Purchased 2021
- 310 x 690mm
- 2021/156
Tags: animals, living rooms, rats (animals)
“[It was a] location that I could control, that I could work in any time that I wanted. But that wasn’t just convenience. I am one of those people that really likes sitting in a room staring at a corner – looking at the space of a room, at the arrangement of furniture. Locations have their own characters but there is something universal about domestic locations. It’s a background against which you can do things and say things. I really enjoy unspectacular locations. When I first began working in this way, a lot of photographers weren’t seeking out their own environments. They were outward looking and they were trying to put themselves in novel situations to bring back news of the world or bring back news from places that weren’t their own. I knew from early on that didn’t fit with me just because I wasn’t that kind of outgoing person. I wasn’t a person who could bury myself in somebody else’s life or situation.”– Marie Shannon in B.193, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, 2018
(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )