Henry Roy - Impossible Island

In a world-first, legendary photographer Henry Roy will hold his first survey at The Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Henry Roy – Impossible Island draws on 40-years of recollections and observations as it brings together 113 photos taken from 1983 to 2023.

The images were shot in places such as his native Haiti, Ibiza, Paris, Dakar, Cameroon, Normandy, Marrakesh, Thailand, and the Ivory Coast.

Image: Henry Roy Girl sleeping, Brazzaville 2002.
Image: Henry Roy Girl sleeping, Brazzaville 2002.

Impossible Island channels the many influences that have shaped Roy’s artistic journey including his exile from his homeland of Haiti to his love of literature and passion for New Wave French cinema.

Henry Roy’s work has been of international interest since the 1990s because of the incredible beauty and richness of his imagery, qualities that have made him a sought-after photographer in magazine editorial and exhibition contexts.

His photographic vision was a key component of the new publishing trends in the late 1990s, specifically as a contributor to Purple, and later in the 2000s Hobo magazine. "Impossible Island evokes my exile from Haiti, and the quest for a metaphorical island, an imaginary refuge where one can escape the brutality of the world. It presents a bittersweet universe where water and sunlight dominate, symbols of both life and death." Henry Roy, Art photographer and writer.

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April

Sydney: Until 15 May. Scott Perkins new series of expertly crafted landscape photographs and light boxes are located within photography and sculpture disciplines.

June

Adelaide: 7 June – 16 August. Drawn from the National Portrait Gallery collection, this photographic exhibition captures the experience of lives lived through dance.