With the advent of digitisation and the passing of ‘peak camera’, photography’s
ubiquity now threatens its fixity as art. When chiaroscuro is but one of myriad
digital effects, when erasure is built into the host platform’s algorithm, how does
the photographic image sustain value beyond the experience of its capture? Does it remain a valid form of visual expression? This series continues my interpretative response to the work of the Dutch Masters, but enlists landscape elements to further my investigation of notions of permanence within contemporary digital photography. By placing the classically familiar figure in inhospitable, timeless environments, the work contemplates what constitutes lasting value in art making, and whether or not photography’s modern digital expression risks its legacy as lasting cultural artefact.

Tomasetti’s work is widely collected privately here and abroad, and is held in the collections of the SA Art Museum, WA Art Museum, ArtBank, Albury Regional Art Gallery and the Chekhov Museum, Moscow.
In 2006 Tomasetti was a finalist in The Archibald Photographic Portrait Prize, and in 2007, 2009 and 2011 was a finalist in The National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize. In 2014 she received her Masters in Photography from Sydney College of the Arts.

Among other recognitions, Tomasetti was awarded an Australia Council studio residency in Besozzo, Italy; the SA Dept. for the Arts Grant, and has been published in such publications as Eyeline #59 (Dr Melissa Miles, 2006) Look, Contemporary Australian Photography since 1980 (Dr Anne Marsh, 2011), and Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits (Ed. Karen-Jayne Eyre, National Portrait Gallery 2017).

Parallel to her arts practice, Tomasetti has worked for many years as a highly sought after stills photographer in film and television. Her many credits include Shine, Star Wars: Episode 2 – Attack of the Clones, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Dirty Deeds, Dead Heart, Mystery Road (series 1), Truth, Top of the Lake (series 2), Charlotte’s Web, and The Sapphires.

For the last 11 years Tomasetti has been the international tour photographer for The Australian Ballet, touring to New York, Beijing, Paris, San Francisco and Tokyo. Lisa also continues to work as production photographer for many of Australia’s foremost arts institutions including Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Belvoir St theatre, The Adelaide Festival of Arts, and the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Tomasetti’s work is currently featured in the National Portrait Gallery’s Starstruck exhibition, touring nationally throughout 2019-2020.