Natalie Ryan’s Mortem in Imagine is an unsettling installation which explores human mortality and memory through representations of the animal cadaver.

Spot lit in the blackened gallery, the photographs of lifeless baby goats sit opposite a wax dissection table.

Lying upon this table, as though asleep, are the translucent wax bodies of several foetal goat forms.

While Ryan’s imagery is drawn from her observations within sterile veterinary labs and museums, there is a warmth and gentleness to her installation that is at odds with these scientific roots.

Ryan’s photographs appear like portraits on a shrine and there is a sense of ritual in the tender handling of the three dimensional forms.

The animal cadaver is taken out of its scientific context and is treated with the respect paid to deceased loved ones.

Under the warm spotlights, the scientific specimens become receptacles for memory and the sterile dissection table transforms into a candlelit altar.

The crypt-like space and the sparse placement of objects create a weighty void in which the visitor can attach their own memories and experiences of bereavement.

Also at the VAC is Tabula by Ana Radovcich