Girl gang

Girl gang, Shannyn Higgins, art direction by Eddie Zammit, 2020

From left to right: 23rd Key, Justine McAllister, Amanda Valdes, Lucy Lucy, Lisa King, George Rose, Elle

‘Spotlighting incredible women is always a focus with my work, and with so many talented female artists contributing to Can’t Do Tomorrow a group shot felt like a great way to showcase their camaraderie and girl power.

I wanted to create an image with high energy that reflected the spontaneity and fun of each of their personalities, all while portraying a story of letting loose after a long day of painting.

We shot this late at night, using Mayonaize and Cam Scale’s mural as the backdrop, and Kent (the Festival Director) generously lent his car and motorbike as props.

Although probably one of the most complex images in this series, it felt like one of the quickest to capture. Once I worked out the composition and where to place everyone, that energy and commitment to their character showed up as soon as I began shooting.’

- Shannyn Higgins

Find 23rd Key, Justine McAllister, Amanda Valdes, Lucy Lucy, Lisa King, George Rose, and Elle on Instagram

David 'Meggs' Hooke

David 'Meggs' Hooke, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Meggs’ vibrant artwork had such a mediative vibe that it felt fitting to paint him into the floor to create a sense of floating. He customised his outfit to blend into the artwork and I precariously fastened my camera to the ceiling to create this birds-eye view.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Callum Preston

Callum Preston, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Callum made this 1976 Bedford ice-cream truck his canvas for Can’t Do Tomorrow. He added his signwriting and lettering to the outside and created a sweet, nostalgia-filled studio space inside.

At the time of our shoot Callum was still working on the exterior, so we isolated what was finished and threw all our energy into the driver's seat.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Chehehe

Chehehe, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Chehehe painted the floor of Tallows, a bar on the ground level of The Facility. His signature line work covered an enormous amount of space and it felt like a natural step to paint him into the floor to show its scale.

After selecting this small section, and testing a few different positions, we settled on this body language. I then hastily fastened my camera to the ceiling and once everything was centred and ready to go, I painted Chehehe into the floor for the shot.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Lucy Lucy

Lucy Lucy, Shannyn Higgins, set design by Hera Wing, 2020

‘A common feature in Lucy’s portraits are lines and shapes, so I wanted to bring those elements to life. Hera Wing came on board as a set designer for this job, and we created an interactive design out of string for Lucy to move and respond to, making it look like an extension of her artwork.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Chuck Mayfield

Chuck Mayfield, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Chuck’s was the first portrait I shot and admittedly, at this stage, I wasn’t sure what direction this series would go in.

Chuck’s mural was located in the basement; I flooded the floor to create a mirror image and reflect the vibrant colour back into Chuck’s artwork. The floor wasn’t flat so we had to keep hosing it down, pushing the water back into the frame, and rushing to get the shot.

The selected image was one of the last frames taken and more of an experiment to see what it would look like to fill in the space between Chuck and the lens with colour. The vibrancy and shape of the spray worked immediately.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Creature Creature

Creature Creature, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

From left to right: Chanel Tang, Ambrose Rehorek

‘With Chanel and Ambrose being a couple, I wanted to bring intimacy into their pose and interaction.

Using their mural as a guide to styling, we colour blocked with black for Ambrose and white for Chanel and incorporated red with the rose on fire. With some help, we experimented with dipping the rose in kerosene to get the perfect flame.

What you can’t see here is that Chanel is considerably shorter than Ambrose and is standing on a paint tin to balance out their heights.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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David Lee Pereira

David Lee Pereira, Shannyn Higgins, set design by Hera Wing, 2020

‘The idea of this portrait series was to emulate the lighting and design elements of the artwork and incorporate the artist into a scene they had created.

While collaborating with David we decided to pursue a feast-inspired aesthetic, so I got Hera Wing on as set designer and she created this baroque scene.

The scene was set with a lot of trust and experimentation, and we then dipped fruit into lubricant to emulate David’s work and create this very sticky yet beautiful feel.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Jason Parker

Jason Parker, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Jason’s work plays on themes of existential angst, and as we were exploring this he suggested a scene where it was raining petals but only on him.

This set up the creative idea beautifully and Jason painted flowers onto a clear umbrella as a symbol of protecting himself. Ambrose from Creature Creature helped out and poured buckets of petals down from the boom lift above Jason. We tried water as a backup, and this was the final frame we went with.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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George Rose

George Rose, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘George took over the Talks Theatre, a humble 1000 square metre room. She created an immersive environment by covering every inch of the ceiling, walls, and floor with roses.

Documenting her in this space felt like Where’s Wally, so we opted to keep it simple.

Showcasing a very small portion of the work, we had a circus ring installed and elevated George two metres from the floor. It was definitely a challenge to look and feel relaxed given the circumstances, but George made it look effortless.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Justine McAllister

Justine McAllister, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Justine created a secret bacchanalian styled bar with folklore imagery, neon lighting and flamingos, all perfect for building a shoot around. I think the only struggle was admitting that we didn’t need all of the flamingos in the shot.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Steve Leadbeater

Steve Leadbeater, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Steve took over the unisex toilets in the basement of CDT, which was made up of a 11m by 3m external wall and then a series of brilliantly witty posters within the toilets.

Given the opportunity to step away from working within the constraints of a conventional mural/wall, I simply had to utilise the urinal for Steve’s shoot.

Precariously placing lights and scrims above Steve, and with his ability to get into character and play into the comical satire, we were able to nail this shot in a few minutes.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Ruskidd

Ruskidd, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘The archway structure that Ruskidd painted was at the entrance of the main floor, and in line with his usual style had this surreal and cosmic vibe to it.

I wanted to mirror the energy of the art with movement and somehow have him floating, but also create contrast with him wearing silver so he stood out. Struggling to find the exact boiler suit with such a tight turnaround, we opted for a paint suit and sprayed it silver.

He was elevated on a stool that I edited out later, so we were able to get some height and centre him within the structure. The paint suit wasn’t very sturdy though, and Oli had split it in the first few jumps. By the end he was pretty much gaffer taped into it, to keep the suit together.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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Silkroy

Silkroy, Shannyn Higgins, 2020

‘Sahil’s art has this beautiful contrasting palette with stunning movement and texture. Watching him paint and peel back the layers of his work, I knew I wanted to capture this movement and mimic his brushstrokes by blurring his image.

Each photoshoot had such a small window of time to create in, that by the time I got to this shot I think we had 20 minutes to get it right. The final shot is a 30-second exposure using red gels and a quick flick of the wrist to move the camera and create the blurring effect.’

- Shannyn Higgins

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