Alex Fredriksson  亚历克斯•费雷德里克森  / Throwing Stones 《投石》

In Throwing Stones, emerging visual artist Alex Fredriksson examines the idea of home and self-development as part of a wider study into the constructed nature of photography and the possibilities of creating alternate visual and psychological realities.

In the exhibition space, Alex presents a series of new photographic works alongside a selection from his Glass Homes exhibit first presented in 2022. It begins with a question: what do we truly perceive about ourselves when we gaze into and out of windows, onto different places and spaces?

Windows demarcate, separating inside from outside, self from other.  In Throwing Stones, the window - brought to life in the design of the exhibition via the use of the gallery’s architecture - functions as a literal and metaphorical gateway for two areas of thematic contemplation. 

1: Separating Illusion from Reality, the Perception of Home
As a child in Perth, Alex spent his formative years on construction sites with his father, watching houses/homes being built - lives being made. As an onlooker, the windows of dwellings began to take on a particular meaning as a symbol of the idea of home.

After relocating to Naarm, Alex found himself reevaluating windows afresh. Living alone, separated from his loved ones, the windows no longer expressed the same sense of nostalgia, comfort and connectivity. On the contrary, they separated, isolated and expressed his aloneness, an emotional experience explored in the video work.

Presented here alongside earlier photographic works from his Glass Homes series, which was born from the warmth of cherished memories of home and everyday life in Perth, the juxtaposition reveals the constructed nature of our nostalgia for home, as Alex says, ‘a filtered illusion seen through rose-coloured glasses.’ 

2: Seeking Self and Home, Seeing Ourselves Reflected
When we look into the lives of others, we are not merely peering into their interiors; often, their lives evoke associations with our own. We are, in fact, looking at our reflected selves when observing others through their windows – or, in Alex’s case, the camera - like a mirror. 

These reflections may originate from our past, present, or imaginings about potential future selves. Each day, we cast fleeting glances into the windows of others, embarking on a journey through the ever-shifting identities and selves that reside within us. 

In his new photographs, Alex plays with colour, light and printing techniques to express his evolving perception of home, identity and understanding of self that occurs when we contemplate our own reflections through different windows, places and spaces. 

We recommend exploring the exhibit in the front room first. Afterwards, look through the window or walk into the rear studio space to look at the works on the back wall more closely and gaze back into the main space.

在展览《投石》中，新兴艺术家 Alex Fredriksson 将摄影的构建属性及其替代视觉和心理现实的可能性融入了他对“家”和“自我发展”的见解中。

本次展览不仅呈现了 Alex 为《投石》创造的新作，还包括了他在 2022 年首次公开展示的

《玻璃之家》展览中的两件摄影作品。《投石》的创作灵感始于一个疑问：当我们透过一扇窗户，凝视以窗户为界限的内外两个空间时，我们究竟在看什么？这对我们对自我身份的感知又有何意义？

窗户分隔内外，隔开私我与他人。在展览空间内，我们打造了两扇窗户，这两扇“窗户”也为本展览的两个主题分支提供了观察角度。

一：分离幻觉与现实，对家的感知

作为一个在珀斯度过童年的孩子，Alex 在他父亲的建筑工地上度过了他的成长岁月。他亲眼见证着许多房子从无到有，人们的生活也由此诞生。渐渐地，嵌在住宅里的窗户成为了他心中家的象征。

从珀斯搬到墨尔本后，Alex 开始从新的视角审视窗户。独自一人，远离家乡，窗户不再与他对儿时家庭温暖的眷恋相联系。相反，窗户成为他与外界隔绝的界线，包围他的孤独。他对

“窗户”理解的转变在其视频作品中也可见一斑。

此次展览所展出的《玻璃之家》系列摄影作品，灵感源自他在家乡珀斯生活时那些温暖而珍贵的回忆。作品揭示了人们对家的怀恋是如何构成的。正如 Alex 所说：“记忆是加了粉色滤镜的幻觉。”

二：寻找家和自我，看见映射中的自己

当我们试图透过窗户窥探他人生活时，我们聚焦的不仅仅是建筑内部的模样，更是在他人的生活中能与我们发生共鸣的部分。换句话说，当我们透过窗户观察他人的生活时，我们看见的实际上是自己的映射。作为一个摄影师，相机则是 Alex 观察的窗户。

这些映射可能源自我们的过去、现在，抑或是对未来潜在自我的想象。每天，我们向他人的窗户投去匆匆一瞥，在一次又一次自我身份的不断切换中开启自我发现的旅程。

在 Alex 的新摄影作品中，借由对色彩、光线和印刷技术的巧妙运用，他表达了当自身透过不同地方和空间的窗户注视自己的映像时，不断演变的对家与自我身份理解的感知。

我们建议观众首先在主展示区进行观赏和探索。随后，您可以选择透过空间内部的窗户观看后方的工作室空间，或者走入后方工作室，近距离欣赏后墙上的作品，并将目光透过窗户回归主展示区。

sonder (definition): The profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it.

— John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (2021)

Slowed + reverb continues Alex’s rumination on the idea of home, this time examining the act of gazing outward through a window of his apartment building in Naarm.

The video zooms in and out in sequences, from close-up to further and further away, until the windows depicted are specks in a sea of windows that light up the adjacent buildings. The sequences repeat again and again while Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1 plays.

Deliberately slowed and infused with found sounds recorded on the apartment balcony, the video strikes a slightly dissonant, melancholy note, mirroring the artist’s evolving sense of loneliness and isolation as he looks on with the camera.

And, yet, in those familiar sequences that elapse into a sea of window lights, there is, paradoxically for Alex, a sense of hopeful connection or what he thinks of as ‘sonder’, the term defined by writer John Koenig in his book, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows (2021).

Sonder（名词）：一种深刻的感觉 ，即意识到茫茫人海中 ，每个随机擦身而过的人 ，都经历着与自己无分别的生动而复杂的人生 。

— 摘自约翰·科尼格，《悲伤词典》（2021 年）

取景于艺术家在墨尔本的旧公寓，《吉诺佩第第一号(慢放+ 混响)》记录并审视了Alex 由自家窗内向外窥视的过程。本作品可视为 Alex 对家的概念的延伸。

视频以倒序播放，镜头在一次次的循环中缩小与放大，从特写近景拉伸到建筑全景，直到所聚焦的窗户淡化成一个小点，淹没在由众多窗户光亮形成的光斑汪洋中。

在经过慢放处理的埃里克·萨蒂的《吉诺佩第第一号》钢琴曲中，艺术家融入了在阳台上收录的环境音，由此产生的一些略微不和谐、忧郁的音符，表达出 Alex 内心波动的孤独感和隔离感。

然而，在那些隐身于灯海的相似画面中，Alex 在孤独中也产生了一丝希望，正如在 “sonder”一词中所蕴含的与他人的那种关联感。

These two pieces belong to Alex’s 2022 Glass Homes exhibit, a collection that delved into the themes of home, childhood, and nostalgia.

During Alex’s daily commute in Perth, passing by the same cemetery became a ritual. The tombstone, viewed by Alex as a symbol of his childhood, was “forever the way it was, being the glue of all things.” The monumental permanence expressed in this photograph, coupled with the flow and movement of passing traffic captured behind ‘501’ - the number of a bus route that defined much of his childhood, always passing by the same electrical box pictured, ubiquitous with a similar sense of solidity - together invite contemplation on the nature of our self-development journey amidst fleeting moments and eternal recurrences. It also reminds us of the contrast between the blurred and, at times, illusory nature of our memories and the emotional solidity embedded in memory. 

Upon initial observation, the tombstone piece may not evoke sentiments typically associated with warmth and nostalgia. However, while the sunset transitions from gold to blue and purple, this neon-like blue and purple tone represents the sunset colour for the artist. As Alex puts it, "You either see things white or blue when the sun is down."

These two pieces capture the outdoor scenes of Perth, echoing the artist's perspective that the feeling of home transcends indoor spaces. For him, the warmth of an evening in Perth outdoors reminds him of the essence of home.

这两幅摄影作品来自 Alex 2022 年举办的《玻璃之家》展览，表达了 Alex 对家庭及童年记忆的怀恋。

当 Alex 在珀斯时，他每天上下学的路上都会经过一个墓园，与墓园的相遇成为了他日常行程中一种特殊的仪式。因此，这座墓碑被 Alex 视为童年的象征，他认为它“永远如故，像胶水一样将一切紧密地粘接起来”；501 则是 Alex 童年经常搭乘的一条巴士线路。照片中所拍摄的是巴士运行时总会经过的那一个电箱。同一座墓碑，同一个电箱，这两件作品充溢着不朽的意味。当这种永恒与《五零幺》中所呈现的光影流动相交，这种碰撞引发我们深思 —— 在那一次次瞬息即逝的时刻与永恒轮回中，自我发展的本质。记忆难以逃脱其终将模糊、抑或沦为幻觉的命运，而永恒不变的，是那实实在在发生并深植于记忆里的坚固情感。 

乍眼一看，《墓》 也许不会让人联想到对家庭温暖的眷恋。然而，夕阳会从金黄过渡到蓝紫色，这便是艺术家眼中的夕阳颜色。正如Alex所说：“太阳下山时，你看到的一切都呈现蓝色或白色。” 

这两件作品将镜头转向珀斯的户外，传达了艺术家的观点：家的感觉并非仅限于室内。对Alex 而言，珀斯户外的一个傍晚足以唤起他对家的怀念。

Words Can Never Hurt You is one of Alex’s new works made for the Throwing Stones exhibition. Alex captured it while walking along the Birrarung (Yarra) river one evening when the water was reflective like glass. 

In this work, Alex examines the shared characteristics of the two mediums, glass and water and the way that the camera works to construct/deconstruct the appearance of the river’s reflective surface. 

Light permeates and reflects on these transparent mediums in a similar way. However, various factors, such as scattering and refraction, that happen in the camera, can contribute to the appearance of the river reflected in the photograph, not unlike a depiction of a glass surface or indeed, any subject in camera. 

The dynamic and alterable nature of reflections prompts the question: When we gaze upon our own reflection, what implications does it hold for our representation of identity, our sense of self?

Have you also noted the correlation between the colours of the window lights in this piece and those of Alex’s earlier works, Tombstone and 501? 

《窗户纸 —— 》 是 Alex 为《投石》展览拍摄的新作之一。这张照片记录了Alex 在一天晚上沿着雅拉河漫步时捕捉到的瞬间，当时的水面如同玻璃般，反射着城市的光亮。

在这件作品中，Alex 意图探讨玻璃和水两种媒介之间的共性，以及相机如何构造及解构水面的倒影。

光线透过并反射在这两种透明的介质上。相机设备受到各种因素的影响，如散射和折射，这些因素可能会改变河流倒影的成像。同样地，玻璃上呈现的倒影也会受这些因素的影响。

光的倒影如此易受影响、多变，这引发这样一个问题：凝视自己的倒影，对我们自我身份的感知有何意义？

另外，你是否注意到这件作品中所捕捉到的城市灯光与 Alex 早期作品《墓碑》和《五零幺》之间存在颜色上的关联呢？ 

To the Soul is a new work capturing an empty apartment Alex inspected as a prospective tenant.

In the photograph, Alex deconstructs the very essence of home by isolating its external structure from its interior to examine how much of the feeling of home persists when the familiar contents of everyday domestic life - objects, equipment and materials - are removed. 

While the empty room pictured conveyed a sense of ‘aloneness’, where the sun streamed in and cast those familiar shadows from the window, for Alex, there was a sense of nostalgia and hope for the future of this prospective home - for someone like him. 

《是心灵的》 描绘了Alex在作为一个潜在租户查看一间空房子时所看到的景象。

在这张照片中，Alex 将家的内部构造从外部躯壳中摘除，以此试图解构家的实质。在去除了所有居家生活中熟悉的物件后，家的感觉还能遗留多少？

虽然所拍摄的空房传达出一种孤零零的感觉，但当一束束阳光透过窗户洒下，形成熟悉的阴影轮廓，这里便交织着对曾经的家的怀恋和对未来生活的憧憬。

这是属于每一个像他这样的人的未来之家。 

In this collection of small-format works, Alex examines the ethical realm of voyeurism and the camera when peering into the windows of others. 

Contrasting with Alex’s previous preference for vibrant, saturated colours, this series of black and white photographs intentionally challenges and re-evaluates Alex’s usual representations of the idea of home. 

These images capture the external facades of homes, emphasising windows and the illuminated spaces within that separate the photographer from the interior lives inside. 

Together with the black-and-white medium, the framing of the photographs conveys a sense of nostalgia while also questioning the social propriety of looking into people’s private homes. 

在这组小幅作品中，Alex 尝试对窥探他人窗户这一行为及摄影所触及的道德伦理问题进行探讨。

与Alex以往对鲜艳、高饱和颜色的偏好不同，这一系列黑白照片突破了Alex 此前对家的概念的表达方式。

这些黑白图像捕捉了房屋的外部。当脱离色彩的干扰，窗户以及内部的光亮更为凸显，加强了摄影师与房屋内部的隔离感。

这些照片在传达摄影师个人怀旧情感的同时，也对窥视他人生活的行为提出了质疑。 

咏晖 (Yonghui) Donna is an early career arts worker. She moved from Foshan in China to Naarm/Melbourne seven years ago. In 2022, she completed her Master of Arts and Cultural Management degree at the University of Melbourne. Since then, she has worked as a program coordinator in exhibitions, concerts, and music festivals. She is a former Assistant Producer (Intern) at correspondences where she remains a longstanding member of the Volunteer team.

What drove me into the arts industry was my very first passion for 'vessels' – in the form of ceramics, glass, and other mediums that I discovered during COVID-19. Now, I am taking my curiosity as a vessel, hoping to explore and shape the curiosity I find in this world through art and heartful thinking with great people.

—咏晖 Donna Huang

Perth-born Alex Fredriksson is an emerging visual artist living and working in Naarm (Melbourne). His video and photograph practice examines the idea of home and self-development as part of a wider study into the constructed nature of photography and the possibilities of creating alternate visual and psychological realities.

He has exhibited in selected group exhibitions including, the VCA Graduate Show 2022 (VCA Art Space), Embrace Me You Child 2022 (George Paton Gallery), Dreams of People You Don’t See Anymore 2021 (VCA Art Space), AAHGG! 2018 (West Leederville Gallery, Perth) and Cypher 2018 (Barrak St Gallery, Perth).

Throwing Stones, curated by Donna Huang, is his first solo project. He holds a 2023 Bachelor of Fine (Visual Art) in Photography from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne.