Andrew Simms

High Society is a body of work by Andrew Simms that employs photography and collage to interrogate the NSW Parliament building as a symbol of ideological power and social normalcy. Rather than portraying the building as a static place occupied by people, Andrew inverts the meaning to represent people occupied by spaces.
Through satire, cultural iconography, and philosophical inquiry, High Society invites viewers to confront the visual language of cultural hegemony. It examines how institutional spaces influence public consciousness, reinforcing dominant worldviews while marginalising dissent. Andrew challenges these norms by manipulating familiar symbols and contemporary narratives to turn the NSW Parliament building into a site of critical reflection rather than passive reverence.
Photography and collage serve as tools to expose the fragility of objective decision-making. These techniques highlight how cognitive biases like stereotyping and racism infiltrate systems of governance and perception. Conventional visual hierarchies are disrupted to destabilise the viewer’s assumptions and encourage more nuanced engagement with power and representation.
Andrew’s commitment to resistance, intertextuality, and the interrogation of what is deemed “normal” or “abnormal” positions him not just as a commentator but as a manipulator of cultural meaning, signifying his reclamation of power and a conviction to provoke dialogue and reshape narratives.