Ella Dreyfus photographic work engages with representations of identity. She endeavors to find ways to depict and empower those who do not conform to the dominant aesthetic standards. Hovering between fine art and documentary photography, her images embrace the ordinary, striking a rich source of humanity, compassion and emotional resonance.
Dreyfus' black and white photographs are an exploration of the human body when its condition appears to threaten the social order. At certain times of life and in certain conditions, the tenuous nature of the relationship between the body and its borders and boundaries are disturbed. A person's response to their changing physical condition may challenge their self-perception, identity and sense of mortality.
The subjects of these photographs can be seen as abject in their inability to be symbolically contained - their physicality spills out and disturbs conventional codes of normality. The subjects have included people who are pregnant (Pregnancy Series, 1992, The Body Pregnant, 1993) fat (Fat and Ugly: written on my body, 1995), circumcised (ReMember, 1996, Covenant, 1997), scarred, aged and ill (Age and Consent, 19990, transgendered (Transman, 2001)and the young male (Under Twelves, 2005).
Although many of these physical conditions are common experiences, they have all suffered from a lack of visual representation. When such images are encountered they are often presented as either the objects of medical scrutiny, the butt of humour, or the focus of pity or ridicule. Dreyfus' images show respect towards and bestow dignity upon her naked subjects, all of whom consented to her work. The unseen, loss of visibility, acceptability and identity are issues that have been central to Dreyfus' work.
Her first interactive public sculpture, (Weight and Sea, 2005) was an outdoor performative piece which revealed a very private act in a very public place, the beach, bringing viewers into a particpatory role that involved the numerical display of their body weight. This artwork continued Dreyfus's challenging work about identity and body image. It was the first work in her Phd thesis to be exhibited.
2008
"Scumbag", a major solo exhibition was a photographic and fabric installation, exhibited at Stills Gallery in April 2008. It was the second work in her PhD thesis at the University of NSW, to be exhibited.
A selection of the "Scumbag" photographs were short listed as a finalist in the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize at Monash Gallery of Art.
2007
"Under Twelves No 5" was a finalist in the 2007 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery.
"JP and Jacqueline's Girl" was a finalist in the 2007 Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture at the Tweed River Art Gallery in Murwillumbah.
2006
"David Moses" was awarded a commendation in the 2006 Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture at the Tweed River Art Gallery in Murwillumbah.
"Scumbag No 2" was a finalist in the 2006 Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award at the Gold Coast City Art Gallery.
"Laura's Boy" was a finalist in the 2006 Head On Alternative Portrait Award at the Australian Photographer's Gallery in Sydney.
2005
"The Lads: Nadz and Dax" was the WINNER of the 2005 inaugual Olive Cotton Award for Photographic Portraiture at the Tweed River Art Gallery in Murwillumbah.
"Weight and Sea" was exhibited in the 2005 Sculpture by the Sea exhibition at Tamarama Beach, Sydney.