Julie Shiels

Hidden Life, A Domestic Study turns the selfie function on a mobile phone away from the self in order to see what it can reveal about the world of objects and the spaces. The familiar becomes strange when this popular and generally narcissistic mode of photography is subverted. Shot from below, the photographs defamiliarize the ordinary and draw attention to the overlooked relationship between things and the places they inhabit.

The images in this exhibition centre on the domestic environment and were mainly shot in the artists’ home. They form part of a larger Hidden Life series, which also draws on house museums and commercial spaces. This body of work — like all of Julie Shiels’ photographic and sculptural projects — encourages us to look more carefully at the world around us — especially the things that are hidden in plain sight.