Meg Cowell

Demeter

From $850.00

2025 – Limited Edition

archival photographic print.

85cm x 60cm framed, ed. 1 of 5

Available by order only. Framed with Ultravue UV protect non reflective glass, price $1300.

Framed in 3 weeks, unframed in 1 week.

Framing

The night is beautiful. The night is romantic. The night is menacing. And so it is with Meg Cowell’s sumptuous photographic works.

'Cowell’s work is undoubtedly beautiful as any star-filled night, but within that beauty lies a subtle sense of menace. Somehow, as we gaze at the luminous glory of these delicate frocks, we feel uneasy - as though we might perhaps be looking at death in a ball gown. The works are lush with rococo splendour – the gowns are trapped in an eternal, graceful dance. They are romantic images that call to mind candle-lit soirees of Belle Époque elegance; and yet the decadent silks begin to dissipate into smoke at their edges, becoming unreal, immaterial; like Cinderella’s carriage, the façade of beauty is a temporary glamour that quickly evaporates in the light of dawn - or in this case, into the infinite black void.'
Excerpt from Catalogue Essay for Nocturne, by Eric Henshall

About the Artist

Learn more about Meg Cowell

Meg Cowell’s large-scale photographic works depict theatrical, nostalgic garments, arranged and illuminated from within a large body of water. Using water as a medium of buoyancy and illusionistic display, Cowell aims to generate a sense of the garments being ‘inhabited’ not only by their absent wearer, but also by a complex of moods and emotions. The physical act of fashioning these inanimate subjects motivates her engagement with the nature of ‘absence’ and the use of fabric and clothing as a medium of visual and personal expression.