Don’t Be Fooled By The Faces I Wear:
Ben Rak

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photo access Gallery, Manuka Arts Centre

Ben Rak, The Masks I Wear to Pass, 2020.

Exhibition Overview

Intrigued by the resonances between print surfaces and social interaction, Rak explores the concept of ‘passing’ – the idea that we are always pretending to be someone other than ourselves, wearing a mask in order to masquerade as another and enjoy the privileges of a more dominant group.

Combining digital photography with screen-printing and painting techniques, Rak traces questions of authenticity and reproduction, sameness and otherness. His works realise a series of metaphors for mutable identities and are in and of themselves an investigation into the nature of print.

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Exhibition artist

Ben Rak

An artist, educator, and independent curator, Ben Rak was born in California, in the United States, and grew up in Israel. He is presently working and living in Sydney, Australia, where he lectures at the University of New South Wales Art & Design.

Rak holds a BFA in printmaking (2008) with first-class honours (2009) and an MFA (2013), both from the University of New South Wales. Rak has also curated touring exhibitions themed around the use of print process as metaphor, as well as exchange exhibitions with institutions such as The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (USA) and Indus Valley School of Art & Design (Pakistan).

Rak is currently undertaking a PhD at the University of New South Wales, where he is examining the phenomenon of ‘passing’ as a condition in both social life and art practice. He is interested in the capacity for the print to act as metaphor for contested identities and the agency afforded to the print when it passes as another medium.

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Upcoming exhibitions

LUCKY ROCKET:
Yani Clarke

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LUCKY ROCKET follows Yani Clarke’s return after the 2022 floods, revisiting Bun Bang Fai rocket festivals to explore place, ritual, and resilience.