Jack Ball is known for their sprawling photographic installations that explore themes of queer intimacy and desire using collage – a method of thinking and working that involves undoing and remaking to create new forms. Ball draws on the possibilities of abstraction to create works that resist easy reading and instead exalt ambiguous, slippery states. For their first solo exhibition at PICA, Ball addresses the full space of the West End Gallery with multiple images arranged across the walls and a series of sculptural works made in situ.

The title, Heavy grit, alludes to underlying sensations and tensions at the core of this new body of work. Within the installation, photographs of materials held in the collection of the Australian Queer Archive appear alongside recent images documenting Ball’s studio constructions and moments of everyday life. The artist’s work in the archives explores fragments and glimpses of trans histories and desires through sensory and material connections. 

Using techniques of layering, cutting, cropping, enlarging, printing and re-photographing, their compositions contain visible seams, scratches and stains. These arrangements invite an associative viewing experience, drawing entangled connections while also leaving gaps for viewers to relate their own speculative imaginings.