“I love it when art or music can transport me to another time, another place”, says artist Tina FiveAsh. “When a work of art can take me there, the visual imagery or feeling usually stays with me for a long time – sometimes forever – owing to its affective power. If my work can affect people, that’s all I want.”
FiveAsh is intimately familiar with the concept of forever, having engaged with research into death studies alongside her photography practice for over a decade. This longevity, or sense of immortality, is intimately bound up with the power of words. Words can outlive their author, calling out across time and long past death, and this compelling power drives the artist to include them in her work.
FiveAsh deftly inserts words and phrases into photographs of urban townscapes and natural landscapes in the form of signage, inspired by vintage and historical examples that outlast their original usage. Her works are filled with flickering neon and rust, the age of these landmarks giving them a haunting permeance. They call to the viewer, and add a metaphysical aspect to her photography that is often difficult to convey using visual cues alone.
FiveAsh’s photographs are not merely moments, they are messages – sometimes haunting, sometimes uplifting – and they linger long after the neon lights flicker out.
Above: Tina FiveAsh, We Are Stardust, We Are Golden, 2014. Fine art giclée print, edition of 8 + 2 AP, 110 x 110cm. Courtesy: the artist.
Tina FiveAsh, Art is the Highest Form of Hope, 2024. Fine art giclée print, edition of 8 + 2 AP, 130 x 92cm.
Tina FiveAsh, There is a Light That Never Goes Out, 2015. Fine art giclée print, edition of 8 + 2 AP, 110 x 110, also available as animated lenticular photograph mounted on dibond, edition of 8 + 2 AP, 110 x 110cm.
Tina FiveAsh, Utopia 10Km, 2022. Fine art giclée print, Edition of 5 + 2 AP, 140 x 104 cm (large), edition of 5 + 1 AP, 110 x 82cm (small).