I enjoyed this tutorial extremely because there were two parts.
Part 1 was about the ‘Spirit In The Land’ exhibition held at the Flinders City Gallery in the State Library of South Australia on North Terrace. It featured a collection of work by some of Australia’s most famous painters. As I found out at the exhibition, The landscape has been an enduring subject in the history of Australia art and vital to the on-going formation of images of a national identity. Within this tradition Spirit in the Land explores the connection between eleven Australian artists, historical and contemporary, indigenous and non-indigenous, and their special appreciation and engagement to the spiritual ethos and power of the land.
Unearthing shared themes and cultural exchanges this exhibition brings together key paintings and sculptures by some of Australia’s most influential artists, Lorraine Connelly-Northey, John Davis, Russell Drysdale, Rosalie Gascoigne, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Dorothy Napangardi, Sidney Nolan, John Olsen, Lin Onus, Rover Thomas and Fred Williams. Over 40 works were drawn from private, state and public gallery collections throughout Australia.
1.
2.
and 2. Russel Drysdale. In Class we discussed these two pieces and had to discuss what the exhibition said to us about the way we see the land? And had to make a list of words that sprang to our minds.
My list: hardworking, hot, dry, earthy, natural colours, warm colours, rhythms, tall, lanky, barren landscape, a sense of loneliness, isolation, stillness, yet more work to be done. It is continuously exciting these curious and strange rhythms. Which one discovers in a vast landscape the juxtaposition of figures; of objects all these things are exciting.
What I found this exhibition showed me about the spirit in the land was I found the pieces illuminates Australia’s unique relationship with the land. It commonly represented, and a subject of nationhood, the land and its significance for the Australian artists, and presented in this exhibition, with historical, contemporary, indigenous and non-indigenous significance.
Part 2: Cannot Buy My Soul
This article by Brenda L Croft, curtator of Culture Warriors and former Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torrens Strait Islander Art and the National Gallery of Australia, is instructive on the state of contemporary Indigenous Australian art in 2007 and maps the key issues facing the Aboriginal art movement then, many of which persist today. Brenda's replacement at the NGA, Franchesca Cubillo, is currently in the process of curating the second Triennial, which will be a major event in Australian art when it opens next year.
Our discussion topic was, 'What meaning do you read into the title of the first National Indigenous Art Triennial?'
My group thought it focuses on issues of nationalism, culture, history and citizenship and the debates that have surrounded such issues since the days of first contait in the late 1700s. Ambiguous ironic context: any and everyone can be a cultural warrior. The Triennial's title and the inception of the exhibition itself appear to be right on the money. (Pertinent when considering the prices of Indigenous art on the secondary market).
Despite obstacles inflicted upon them Triennial will continue to inspire, shock, seduce, confront, challenge and encourage us to stand up for what is fair.
Provincialism- civilising Europe- America and trying to understand them and not just live like them (complex).
Colonial: measure, name, and conquer, past colonial, anti-humanism, immersed in the world, language.
Humanist: land/people, animal.
Stereotypes: white.
My list: hardworking, hot, dry, earthy, natural colours, warm colours, rhythms, tall, lanky, barren landscape, a sense of loneliness, isolation, stillness, yet more work to be done. It is continuously exciting these curious and strange rhythms. Which one discovers in a vast landscape the juxtaposition of figures; of objects all these things are exciting.
What I found this exhibition showed me about the spirit in the land was I found the pieces illuminates Australia’s unique relationship with the land. It commonly represented, and a subject of nationhood, the land and its significance for the Australian artists, and presented in this exhibition, with historical, contemporary, indigenous and non-indigenous significance.
Part 2: Cannot Buy My Soul
This article by Brenda L Croft, curtator of Culture Warriors and former Senior Curator of Aboriginal and Torrens Strait Islander Art and the National Gallery of Australia, is instructive on the state of contemporary Indigenous Australian art in 2007 and maps the key issues facing the Aboriginal art movement then, many of which persist today. Brenda's replacement at the NGA, Franchesca Cubillo, is currently in the process of curating the second Triennial, which will be a major event in Australian art when it opens next year.
Our discussion topic was, 'What meaning do you read into the title of the first National Indigenous Art Triennial?'
My group thought it focuses on issues of nationalism, culture, history and citizenship and the debates that have surrounded such issues since the days of first contait in the late 1700s. Ambiguous ironic context: any and everyone can be a cultural warrior. The Triennial's title and the inception of the exhibition itself appear to be right on the money. (Pertinent when considering the prices of Indigenous art on the secondary market).
Despite obstacles inflicted upon them Triennial will continue to inspire, shock, seduce, confront, challenge and encourage us to stand up for what is fair.
Provincialism- civilising Europe- America and trying to understand them and not just live like them (complex).
Colonial: measure, name, and conquer, past colonial, anti-humanism, immersed in the world, language.
Humanist: land/people, animal.
Stereotypes: white.
Reference:
Croft, B 2007, Culture warriors : National Indigenous Art Triennial, 'Cannot buy my Soul', pp. 218.
About exhibition and Images taken: Spirit In The Land, Flinders City Gallery in the State Library of South Australia on North Terrace.
Two pieces that stood out to me were 1. Rover Thomas (Joolama)
No comments:
Post a Comment