Annabel Elgar’s photographic works map out a borderland of fragile enclaves and lost directions. Staged encounters are swiftly usurped by vague sources. Details become covert signifiers and offer us narrative pointers to make sense. Peppered with cropped figures, fires and totemic symbols, we are made aware of ritual behaviours and the allusion towards cult and secrecy. Yet, the locale is never clear.
Elgar’s works are concerned with sharp awakenings to the loss of innocence. Characters will inhabit a psychological space that acknowledges the contradictions of the ensuing spectacle. Narratives will slowly reveal themselves as unforeseen antidotes to the assumed drama witnessed. Photographs will also expose vulnerability in its various forms; figures preoccupied by distractions, or simply contained within their own space, with only their backs or cropped features seen. They are oblivious to our position as onlookers and frequently, to each other.