James Tylor

BORN
1986
LANGUAGE
KAURNA MIYURNA
BIRTHPLACE
MILDURA, VIC
LIVES
CANBERRA, ACT

Tylor has shown me that when we are armed with knowledge of the past, we can change our future. Throughout his career he has looked at histories of people and place and tried to understand how we can use the lessons of the past to bring us closer to Country and to one another.”

— COBY EDGAR

Portrait of James Tylor
Image credit: Rebecca Selleck
  • Portrait of James Tylor
  • Image credit: Rebecca Selleck
James Tylor |
(DELETED SCENES) FROM AN UNTOUCHED LANDSCAPE #3
2013
INKJET PRINT ON HAHNEMUHLE PAPER WITH CUT OUT REMOVED TO A BLACK VELVET VOID
50.0 X 50.0 CM (60.0 X 60.0 CM FRAMED)
EDITION OF 5 + 2 AP

JAMES TYLOR IS AN AUSTRALIAN MULTI-DISCIPLINARY CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTIST. HE WAS BORN IN MILDURA, VICTORIA. HE SPENT HIS CHILDHOOD IN MENINDEE IN FAR WEST NEW SOUTH WALES, AND THEN MOVED TO KUNUNURRA AND DERBY IN THE KIMBERLEY REGION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA IN HIS ADOLESCENT YEARS.

From 2003 to 2008, James trained and worked as a carpenter in Australia and Denmark. In 2011 he completed a bachelor of Visual Arts (Photography) at the South Australian School of Art in Adelaide and in 2012 he completed Honours in Fine Arts (Photography) at the Tasmanian School of Art in Hobart. He returned to Adelaide in 2013 and completed a Masters in Visual Arts and Design (Photography) at the South Australian School of Art. Since completing his tertiary education he has researched Indigenous and European colonial history with a focus on South Australia. He is an experienced writer, designer, curator, historian, researcher, art gallery installation and museum collection conservator. James currently works as a professional visual artist in Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory.

Tylor’s practice explores Australian environment, culture and social history through the mediums of photography, video, painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, sound, scents and food. He explores Australian cultural representations through the perspectives of his multicultural heritage that comprises Nunga (Kaurna Miyurna), Māori (Te Arawa) and European (English, Scottish, Irish, Dutch and Norwegian) ancestry. Tylor’s work focuses largely on the history of 19th century Australia and its continual effect on present day issues surrounding cultural identity and the environment. His research, writing and artistic practice has focused most specifically on Kaurna indigenous culture from the Adelaide Plains region of South Australia and more broadly European colonial history in Southern Australia. His practice also explores Australian indigenous plants and the environmental landscape of Southern Australia.

James’ artistic practice specialises in experimental and historical photographic processes. He uses a hybrid of analogue and digital photographic techniques to create contemporary artworks that reference Australian society and history. The processes he employs are the physical manipulation of digital photographic printing, such as the manual hand-colouring of digital prints or the application of physical interventions to the surfaces of digital prints. James also uses the historical 19th century photographic process of the Becquerel Daguerreotype with the aid of modern technology to create new and contemporary Daguerreotypes. Photography was historically used to document Aboriginal culture and the European colonisation of Australia. James is interested in these unique photographic processes to re-contextualise the representation of Australian society and history.

James Tylor |
vivien-anderson-gallery-james-tylor-aotearoa-my-hawaiki-4-2015
2015
Inkjet print on hahnemuhle paper with rip
50 x 50 cm (60.0 x 60.0 cm framed)
$3,300 (incl. GST), framed
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – (Vanished Scenes) From an Untouched Landscape 12 – 2018
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – (Deleted Scenes) From an Untouched Landscape #9 – 2013
James Tylor |
CIPX Franchesca Cubillo (Yanuwa, Larrakia, Bardi, and Wardaman people)
2021
printed on dibond derived from a Tintype Photograph
100 x 84cm
edition of 5 + 2 AP
James Tylor |
CIPX Aidan Hartshorn (Walgalu people of the Ngurmal Nation)
2021
printed on dibond derived from a Tintype Photograph
100 x 84cm
edition of 5 + 2 AP
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Economics of Minerals #4 – 2020
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Un-resettling (Waterhole) – 2017
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Terra Botanica II (Metrosideros excelsa, pōhutukawa) – 2015
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Hawaiki (Navigating Time and Space) – 2017
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Economics of Water #6 (Barrage) – 2018
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Terra Botanica I (Ficus macrophylla) – 2015
James Tylor |
Vivien Anderson Gallery – James Tylor – Un-resettling (Debarked tree) – 2014
Get the latest updates & news direct to your inbox…