THE CRIMSON LINE

'The Crimson Line' by Trent Parke

Born in the steel city of Newcastle, and growing up with his father working at Tubemakers it was only a matter of time before Trent Parke was drawn in by the industrial landscape that surrounds the Adelaide beachside suburb he now lives in. One of Parke’s only early childhood memories is accompanying his mother to pick his dad up from work, travelling through a landscape dominated by shipyards, chimneys, and the BHP steel works.

There have been two incidents in Parkes personal life which he describes as major influences in his work. The death of his mother while still a young boy, the catalyst for The Black Rose, Art Gallery of South Australia, 2015 and the water birth of his sons with his partner in life and fellow artist Narelle Autio. Life and death, light and shadow, space and time, memory. These are the themes that have always been at the forefront of Parkes work. The Crimson Line continues to explore these ideas.

Cinematic in his vision, Parkes work has always been firmly established in film Noir.  Like his previous published Steidl books; Minutes to Midnight and The Christmas Tree Bucket, Parke builds a narrative that twists and turns. From the micro to the macro, science, genetics, factory lines, laboratories and processing plants. Global warming, consumerism and beauty, his landscapes provide a backdrop that frames a dark and foreboding narrative of strange truth and fiction.