Deborah Paauwe

'Deborah Paauwe’s arresting photographs possess a curious, sometimes troubling quality of uncertainty and ambivalence. Throughout her almost 20-year practice, Paauwe has focused on socially- constructed ideas of female identity and the slippery ambiguity that exists at the threshold of adolescence, between what it means to be a girl and what it means to be a woman. The lucid simplicity of Paauwe’s highly stylised aesthetic belies a depth of haunting, mysterious complexity. Her images are colourful, captivating and seductive; but they also possess a lingering sense of poignancy.

Based in Adelaide, Paauwe has been the recipient of the prestigious Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship and has completed a MA in Fine Art at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. Paauwe’s theatrical compositions have prompted comparisons to Cindy Sherman, for their uncanny, filmic qualities and concern with feminine identity. Her work has been exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally, and is represented in many significant collections, including the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of South Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia and the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.' 

Source:  Andrew Purvis, ART COLLECTOR https://artcollector.net.au/deborah-paauwe-secret-world/