Untitled (Shroud) considers bodies in various states of decay, transformation, and pleasure, and refuses immediate comprehension to challenge impulses of access and disclosure by drawing on Minimalist aesthetics. The work is made to the dimensions of The Shroud of Turin and the seams create a grid that mimics the relic’s pattern of creases from centuries of being folded. The linen has been coloured to its blue hue with a dye made from Truvada (PrEP), a drug used to treat and prevent HIV/AIDS. The weave of the fabric metabolises the medicine in a way that a human body can’t, as pure colour.

Untitled (Shroud), 2022, linen dyed with Truvada (PrEP), polyester thread, 430 x 110cm.

Photo: Andrew Curtis

Installation view: Edging away from the optic curated by Teagan Ramsay at Intermission Gallery, 2023.

Photo: Andrew Curtis

Installation view: figuring ground curated by Abbra Kotlarczyk at Grafton Regional Gallery, 2023.

(left) Benjamin Bannan, Untitled (Shroud), 2022.

(right) Briony Galligan, Becoming vapour, 2023.

Photo: Kate Holmes