The work Cautionary Tales #1 was a finalist in the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery's signature program, Still: National Still Life Award. In 2017, this award was expanded from having a focus solely on still life painting to include artworks in all mediums. As a high quality and innovative photograph, this work signals an imaginative and contemporary interpretation of the still life genre and new direction for the gallery's collection. The still life genre is the specialist focus of the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery's collection, with still life artworks identified as the first priority in the gallery's collection policy, Section 2.4.2(1): "Works in this section reflect still life genre, as per artworks acquired through the National Still Life Award (Still) as well as through donation, purchase, transfer and bequest."

Angela Casey is a mid career artist whose exhibiting career is going from strength to strength. She has been a finalist in a number of national awards including the Blake Prize and the Ravenswood Australian Women's Art Award. She recently undertook a residency at the Quen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery and produced a portfolio of still life works drawing on the museum's collection, including Cautionary Tales #1. She has a major solo exhibition of these works at the same institution scheduled for March 2019. This work therefore fulfils the gallery's second priority collection area of "high calibre" Australian art, Section 2.4.2(2).

In exploring mortality, human error and environmental destruction, the work reflects enduring still life themes with a very current inflection; the imagery of deflated globe, hazard tape and the ambiguous noosing of a bird conjure a dystopian future of our own making. This donation gives the gallery the opportunity to expand its collection specialisation of contemporary still life.

[Written by Jo Besley, 29 June 2018]

Still-life photograph. 1/5, C Type photographic print on paper, mounted on dibond aluminium, face mounted with 3mm acrylic.