‘Test Pattern’ by Finn Goldstraw

Finn Goldstraw, ‘Test Patterns’, Nov 15th - Dec 7th 2024, Five Walls - Footscray

Test Pattern, the television visual calibration pattern used frequently between broadcasting times, although those ‘times’ were definietly in our worlds analogue days.

Inspired by Wolfgang Tilmans, this exhibition was an expression of Finn’s photographic playfulness over 2 years. There is something naturally sterile about photography. I think the photographer needs to work with an active type of agency to evoke a sense of warmth in their images. Finn leaned into all this knowing, celebrating the most sterile of landscapes and exhibiting them with a smile on his face.

For example, the large wall of toilets displays 100 images of public and residential toilets Finn had photographed himself urinating in. Shining a light on the raw character of the most unassuming place in our lives - the dunny.