The wonder of exotica at Australia’s biggest art showLiz HobdayAAPSat, 13 September 2025 6:03AM
Eight years in the making, the latest photomontage series from artist Alexia Sinclair conjures a sumptuous historical world in minute detail.
Selected images from the series of 52 artworks are on show for the first time at the Sydney Contemporary art fair, which runs until Sunday.
“It’s a bit terrifying but I’m just so excited about it – I actually haven’t shared them with anybody,” Sinclair said.
Unusually for the biggest art fair in Australia, Sinclair is not showing with a gallery, but manning her own booth throughout the four-day art extravaganza, as part of the event’s inaugural dedicated photography showcase, Photo Sydney.
The series is titled The Age of Wonder and inspired by the 18th-century trade in plants and animals from the New World – an era in which creatures such as giraffes were seen as exotic treasures.
“I want people to feel the wonder that they felt in the 18th century, seeing them for the first time,” Sinclair said.
Viewed up close, Sinclair’s labour on each photograph becomes apparent: her images are created with handmade costumes, sets, and props, and then stitched together in hundreds of digital layers.
The artist began shooting background plates for The Age of Wonder in London in 2016, and took pictures of animals to include on her return to Australia, before studio shoots with costumed models.
Digitally matching the light and tone of elements shot in different places around the world at various times of the day is the biggest challenge, Sinclair said.
One image marks the arrival of the first giraffe in Paris in 1827, an event that attracted massive crowds and inspired “la mode a la girafe” – giraffe fashion – with tall hairdos, elongated collars, and yellow gowns.
Another was inspired by the importation of plants such as eucalypts from Australia, and magnolias from China – A Living Jewel shows a magnolia growing from the parquetry floor of a castle in Versailles, rainbow finches adorning its branches.
Collecting plants and animals from far-flung destinations was an expression of enthusiasm and also affluence.
“They basically showed off wealth. Aristocrats could display their wealth by owning exotica,” Sinclair said.
Unexpectedly, the series also features US burlesque star Dita Von Teese, who is a fan of Sinclair’s work and volunteered to model while on her Glamonatrix Australian tour in 2019.
Sinclair made a dress for the performer with hundreds of hand-sewn, dark blue feathers, turning the “Queen of Burlesque” into a human bowerbird.
Sinclair gained instant international attention with her first photo series on finishing a master’s degree in 2007, titled The Regal Twelve.
Her artworks have since been shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London, and in cities such as Paris, Seoul, and Dubai – with each series more elaborate than the last.
2015’s Rococo series was shot across two years in spring, so the thousands of flowers Sinclair was growing for sets and costumes would be in bloom.
Sinclair, who also works in commercial photography for clients such as Qantas and the Queensland Ballet, said making The Age of Wonder had been a massive financial commitment – she initially imagined it might run to about a dozen photographs.
“I didn’t anticipate doing this. I just kind of got very obsessed with the subject,” she said.
Sydney Contemporary runs until Sunday at Carriageworks, with an artist talk with Sinclair at Photo Sydney Booth A06 on Saturday at 1pm.
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