Pat Brassington

Pat Brassington’s distinctive photographic practice is informed by her interests in Surrealism, feminism and psychoanalysis. Recognised for her ability to infuse the familiar with the mysterious, Brassington creates enigmatic images that capture the emotional force of memory and dreams.

In many of her early close-up or distorted images, such as Pillow talk, Brassington presents disturbing visions of flesh and printed fabric in a recurring palette of pink, white and beige, that combine to evoke childhood and intimate spaces. At once captivating and menacing, Brassington’s dream-like images lead the viewer to the edges of the imagination. She has said: ‘My work hovers in a sort of liminal space, or more aptly a tense, friction-laden arena between the beautiful and the ugly—or as Freud would have it, an uncanny space.’

Pat Brassington
Pillow talk 2005
pigment print; A/P 1
Last fingers 2024
pigment print; edition 4/6
Geelong Gallery
Purchased with funds generously provided by
Geelong Contemporary, 2025
Photographer: Carlon and Co
© the artist