Anna Schwartz Gallery and Melbourne International Arts Festival present:
The delicate wisp of hair, an eyelash bashfully lowered, the throat, erotic and poised. Blinking concentration, slight perspiration. The anticipation. Saint Sebastian is Fiona Tan's remarkable visual essay on suspense and sensuality. Tan captures the tension of the annual Toshiya ceremony in Kyoto, Japan, a festival that brings together the finest young female archers from around Japan to celebrate the passing from childhood into adulthood. Lying somewhere between still photograph and moving picture, the coming into being that is enacted as part of the ritualised ceremony is riveting and all-absorbing. Tan has encapsulated the captivation of beauty, colour and eroticism in this exquisite work.
Acclaimed international artist Fiona Tan was born in Indonesia and now lives and works in Amsterdam. Tan's film works have been included in key exhibitions across the world.