Biography
Rebecca Tunks is a conceptual artist whose primary medium is photography. She meticulously selects and photographs everyday inanimate objects that are ubiquitous across cultures – objects that are mundane but purposeful. Through repetitive placement and collage, Tunks creates visual explorations that highlight these seemingly ordinary items.
Her work is characterised by its precision, capturing each object as it exists in a specific moment. Tunks’s approach underscores how these objects, though often overlooked, form an integral part of our cultural landscape.
“I aim to capture what often goes unnoticed in our fast-paced world,” Tunks explains. “In an age where people are more engrossed in their phones than their surroundings, I seek to illuminate these overlooked elements. By focusing on the seemingly insignificant, I hope to reveal their importance and their role in our shared environment.”
Her education in Arts stems back to a Special Arts Acceptance program in High School, where extended art classes taught her a variety of artistic mediums, through to a Advanced Diploma in Photography and furthermore the completion of a Bachelor of Communications & Contemporary Arts degree at ECU (Major Photography).
It was during her university education era combined with her travels that she decided to progress away from commercial photography and only photograph artistic representations.
The Art of Travel series of works are inspired by her 2 years living in India and the process of cultural adaption to a foreign environment during this time. She works by selecting and photographing small inanimate objects that are common to most cultures and repetitively placing them in collages, which creates a visual exploration of these objects. Their unity from afar and their absolute variety up close, is the interactive play of travel that she is endeavoring to represent.
This passion for & style of photography has thus been continued through Switzerland, Australia, London, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Russia, Helsinki, Portugal, America, China, and Austria.
EDUCATION
2005 – 2009 | Bachelor of Communication & Multimedia (Major in Photography)
2002 – 2005 | Advanced Diploma in Applied Sciences (Photography)
AWARDS
2014 | State Winner, Cliftons Art Prize
2011 | Winner, Vasse Art Award
2011 | Semi-Finalist, Moran Photographic Art Prize, Sydney, NSW
2010 | Winner, Young Artist of Western Australia, YAWA (Young Artists of Western Australia), Burswood InterContinental Perth
2005 | Highly Recommended Award, City of Subiaco Photographic Awards, Subiaco Town Hall
2000 | Site Specific Award, Totem Pole Sculpture
2000 | Watercolour Butterfly Study Selected by the Department of Education
SOLO EXHIBITION
2009 | Art of Travel, Part 1: India, Little Creatures Brewery, Fremantle, WA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2024 | Churchlands Community Art Exhibition, Churchlands SHS, WA
2009 – 2014 | Artitude: Exhibition and Sale of Collectable Art, Perth Galleries & Sotheby’s, WA
2013 | Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Biennial Art Award, WA
2012 | UrbanISE, Linton & Kay Galleries, WA
2011 | South Perth Emerging Artist Awards – Highly Commendation, WA
2010 | Artitude Art Auction, Burswood Entertainment Centre, Astral Ballroom, WA
2010 | Fremantle Headspace: Youth Week Exhibition, Art of Travel: India, WA
2010 | FotoFreo, ABC Center, Art of Travel: Australia, WA
2010 | Photography 10a Exhibition, Brunswick Street Art Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2009 | South Perth Emerging Artist Exhibition, South Perth Town Hall, WA
2009 | Foreign Eyes Exhibition, Artsiti, HASTA Gallery, India
2009 | Summer Exhibition, Little Creatures Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2004-2009 | Site Unseen, Touring Exhibition across Australia
2006 | Perth Centre of Photography Christmas Show, WA
2006 | Edith Cowan University Exhibition, PCP Gallery, WA
2004-2005 | Iris Awards, Perth Centre of Photography Gallery, WA
REPRESENTATION
2013 – 2016 Gallery 360, Perth Western Australia.
TRAVEL
2024 Sourcing Images. Macau, China.
2017 Sourcing images. Helsinki, St Petersburg, Portugal, Spain and America.
2013 Sourcing Images. Japan
2010 Sourcing images. Macau, Hong Kong, London Sourcing Images
2007/9 Moved to India.
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2015 PeoplePerInch.com Launch for the Perth International Arts Festival Art Hack Weekend.