INTRODUCTION This changes everything is a series of artistic responses to some of the dramatic events of 2019 and 2020. Beginning with a summer of catastrophic bushfires that devastated landscapes, habitats and lives across the country; 2020 then delivered an unprecedented shock to humanity as the global pandemic unfolded.
nation is still in a state of low-level anxiety; alert to the next disaster. But there is also a sense of hope and a resurgent creative resourcefulness that has emerged. Like the rare pink flannel flowers (Actinotus forsythii) that require specific conditions to bloom, these artists have turned difficult conditions to surprising and often beautiful ends.
In early 2020, while the fires still burned and smoke lingered, Australia felt the first ripple of COVID-19. By late March, the tidal wave hit. State and federal government directives were to ‘stay at home’ and as autumn settled in, we went into lockdown, along with half the world’s population. Contemporary life suddenly had an unknown rhythm of restricted movement, curfews, social distancing, school closures and working from home. Everything changed. The ‘new normal’ became both a media cliché and our lived reality.
Rilka Oakley Curator, Blue Mountains City Art Gallery
The artists in this exhibition explore the devastation, grief, frustration and anxiety of adjusting to a new day-to-day reality, as well as playfully engaging with this new world order. Whether reeling from the still-fresh trauma of the bushfires, making positive adjustments to a more minimal lifestyle or dealing with the constrictions of forced containment, the artists have seized this most unlikely creative catalyst. They all express deep feelings of re-evaluation and the need for change at both personal and collective levels. Twelve months on, Australia appears to be back on track to ‘normal’; state borders are opening, businesses are operating at near-capacity and loved ones are being reunited after long separations. However, our landscape and wildlife have a long way to recovery, and many who lost houses are still waiting to rebuild. People who have lost someone close are slowly adjusting to life without their loved ones. Collectively, the
THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING In every screen or theatrical narrative there is often a turning point that leads the plot in unexpected directions. A point of no return. As the protagonist negotiates this change, ‘pinch’ points elucidate on the conflict, emphasise the character’s resilience, or foreshadow events yet to unfold. The unpredictability, complexity and scale of events that occurred from late 2019 through 2020 positioned us all centre stage. From the intensity of the summer bushfires in Australia to the COVID-19 global pandemic, life became unrecognisable. Out of the introspection and isolation of lockdown, creatives across disciplines responded to the drama of our changing circumstance. Their works acting as ‘pinches’ in personal and collective narratives reinforcing our resourcefulness, our empathy, and offering hope as we continue to navigate our way forward.
Thirty-four lives were lost, and thousands left homeless, as the Black Summer bushfires devastated 18.6 million hectares across Australia. Domesticated animals aside, conservative estimates claim over three billion terrestrial vertebrates died with some species brought to extinction. For months our skies were blanketed with dense smoke that caught at the back of our throats, but this was inconsequential as we experienced collective environmental grief watching the coverage in the media. In the Lithgow-Blue Mountains area, the Country of Darug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri First Nations peoples, a ‘megafire’ burned for seventy-nine days. In Timescapes, filmmakers Sean O’Keeffe, Barbara Lepani & Brad Diedrich present a community perspective, interviewing traditional custodians and local residents. Their stories of the circumstances
SEAN O’KEEFFE, BARBARA LEPANI & BRAD DIEDRICH Timescapes (still) 2020, HD video & sound, 30 min. Courte s y t h e a r t i s t s.
preceding the fire, the loss and subsequent trauma make real the immeasurable impact of the tragedy. However, their knowledge and respect for Country supports their optimism as they offer possibilities for future land management. Throughout the Gospers Mountain area old growth forests were reduced to charred sticks and the earth was blanketed in ash. Like many locals, Tracy Ponich resisted travelling along the Bells Line of Road that snakes between Bell and Kurmond, not wanting to confront the devastation she would see. When the artist was finally compelled to photograph the aftermath, her reticulated, monochromatic images invoked the lingering spirit of this once vibrant and complex ecosystem. By mid-March 2020, while still recovering from the longest bushfire season ever recorded, the coronavirus pandemic had spread globally. To help ‘stop the spread’
Australia went into a nation-wide lockdown shifting our attention beyond local events. The impact of the pandemic on our psychological wellbeing, and on the broader global ecology, inspired Merinda Davies to create a series of performances. Fully equipped in medical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Davies envelopes her voluntary participants in a gesture of empathy and affection. With the artist’s senses shielded and contamination minimised, her restorative hugs, for both parties, are unsettling and in part unsatisfying. And yet the experience of warmth, pressure and beating hearts induces an appreciation for the loss of intimacy brought about by social distancing. Ebony Secombe’s performance-based installation refers to the rise of Intimate Personal Violence during government imposed self-isolation. Away from the close watch of supportive friends and family, living with uncertainty and in many cases
MERINDA DAVIES Imprints (still) 2020, performance installation, 2021, PPE (gown, gloves, facemask, eyecover) hand sanitiser, sanitiser spray. Commissioned by the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane) for Making Art Work 2020. Courtesy the artist.
financial stress, some in the community were vulnerable to physical and psychological abuse. Secombe’s assemblage of construction hazard tape alludes to the emotional shadows of inner conflicts and circumstantial anxieties fundamental to those who assert control over others, as well as those that suffer. Steven Oliver’s powerful prose in This Instance of Distance, calls us to contemplate the broader experience of social exclusion. Prejudice based on difference, whether that be heritage, belief, gender identity, diverse ability or socio-economic circumstance, hinders cognitive empathy and community cohesion. Our now common experience of enforced social distancing offers a new perspective from where the longer, more complex history of exclusion and its continued impact on the lives of others can be reconsidered. Porch Diaries is a series by Alana Holmberg of over two hundred photographs that capture life at the threshold of her existence in Melbourne’s Brunswick during Victoria’s extended lockdown. From the singular point of view of her front gate, Holmberg’s family, friends and neighbours are seen passing on their way to shop, arriving with flowers, or going on their regulatory hour of exercise. The now familiar couriers delivering online purchases and groceries are warmly welcomed, if only from a distance. The streetscape is vitalised and animated by the trades and services workers and their vehicles. Everyone within this restricted circle seem happy for a fleeting encounter and acts of kindness fill the languid space of each frame. For Shan Turner-Carroll lockdown was a productive time spent un-earthing his childhood memories and reconnecting with family members. Repurposing household items, old sporting equipment and favourite items of clothing, he and his family drew on childhood memories to enact fanciful characters and spectacular vignettes. As
for many households, focussed activities and imaginative play created new shared memories and had a restorative effect. In late 2019, without expectation or judgement Margaret Ellen Burns & Julie Sundberg began a daily email correspondence that visualised their lives in Kalgoorlie and Sydney respectively. The collaborative project A photo a day: notes from 2020 is an accumulation of these photographic pairings that were taken at home, as they wandered along local streets or, in the case of Burns, in outback towns. This dialogue of images highlighted by found objects, reflective moments and intimate happenings resonates on a deep and intuitive level. Looking out onto the world from Australia’s position of relative security and material privilege, Eddie Abd comments on the situation of her family in Lebanon. Using an assemblage of photography, moving image and soundbites of telephone conversations, Abd recreates our anxieties for the safety of loved ones overseas, as well as the impact of the pandemic’s economic contagion. While in Australia the media focussed on local panic buying to reveal the extremes of self-interested aggression, across the globe failing systems of government made essential commodities both scarce and prohibitively expensive. As livelihoods were lost hunger became a daily reality for many. Maria Albiñana & Luke Eve were living in Spain in March 2020. Just days before their wedding, the World Health Organisation recommended national lockdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Emerging out of the novelty, boredom and grief of their isolation, Albiñana & Eve, along with Luke’s mother Karen visiting from Australia, created CANCELLED. From their apartment in Valencia, they produced a series of short mobile phone movies that recorded their quotidian activities and posted them on Facebook. The couple’s evolving emotional highs and lows tapped into a universal
experience. While in the background, Karen’s unpreparedness and concerns as a traveller aligned with the despair experienced by many Australians who were also trapped overseas. In the simple yet intense moments of this mini drama the allure of experiencing other cultures dissipates against an overwhelming desire for the knowable and familiar. In this together, by filmmakers Tina Marie Sheil & Ramana Dienes-Browning, comprehensively documents 2020 as a year of bushfire, floods, and coronavirus from a local viewpoint. The Blue Mountains’ community, as the protagonist in this production, proves its connective fabric has remained strong, compassionate and agile. Living in close proximity to nature has its risks but equally the bush has been a catalyst for people’s recovery. In the film’s final scene,
the rare pink flannel flowers (Actinotus forsythii) emerging from the ash become a metaphor of resilience and rejuvenation. In This changes everything, each of the artists has created a reflective space where inclusion and catharsis can be explored. We find in their ingenuity an exceptional ability to articulate a collective experience – one centred on simple pleasures and intimate moments. Allison Holland Independent curator & writer
TINA MARIE SHEIL & RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING In this together (still) 2021, video documentary, 3 min 30 sec Photo: Michelle Swan. Courtesy the artists.
LIST OF WORKS EDDIE ABD to your health 2021 single channel video 3 min 45 sec MARIA ALBIÑANA & LUKE EVE CANCELLED 2020 10 part digital mini series 94 min 19 sec MARGARET ELLEN BURNS & JULIE SUNDBERG A Photo A Day: notes from 2020 2020, video, 13 min 17 sec & archival digital prints, 40.7 x 56 cm each MERINDA DAVIES Imprints 2020 performance, photography & video documentation variable dimensions Commissioned by the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane) for Making Art Work, 2020 ALANA HOLMBERG Porch Diaries 2020 archival pigment inkjet prints on Ilford Galerie Washi Torinoko Fine Art Paper 42 x 29.7 cm each SEAN O'KEEFFE, BARBARA LEPANI & BRAD DIEDRICH Timescapes 2020 HD video & sound, 30 min STEVEN OLIVER This Instance of Distance 2020 HD video, stereo audio 1 min 44 sec Documentation: Rhett Hammerton Commissioned by the Institute of Modern Art (Brisbane) for Making Art Work, 2020
TRACY PONICH Aftermath 1-4, Bells Line of Road 2020 photographic prints on Awagami handmade paper 59.4 x 42 cm each
Edge Of The Garden, Ruby & Monique 2020 archival digital ink jet print 114.5 x 78 cm collection Maitland Regional Art Gallery, purchased 2021
Delayed til further notice 2020 photographic print on Awagami handmade paper 59.4 x 42 cm
Edge Of The Garden, Tara 2020 archival digital ink jet print 114.5 x 78 cm
It Rained Fire Leaves in My Garden, Katoomba 2020 photographic print on Awagami handmade paper 42 x 42 cm EBONY SECOMBE Systems Failure / Communication Breakdown 2021 caution tape & performance dimensions variable TINA MARIE SHEIL & RAMANA DIENES-BROWNING In this together 2021 video documentary, 3 min 30 sec SHAN TURNER-CARROLL Crotchet legs & arms 2020 crutches, leather jacket & sticks 103 x 210 x 40 cm Edge Of The Garden, Nigel 1 2020 archival digital ink jet print 114.5 x 78 cm collection Maitland Regional Art Gallery, purchased 2021 Edge Of The Garden, Nigel 2 2020 archival digital ink jet print 114.5 x 78 cm collection Maitland Regional Art Gallery, purchased 2021
Edge Of The Garden, Zion 2020 archival digital ink jet print 114.5 x 78 cm Greenhouse boxing gloves 2020 gloves, plants, plastic 60 x 50 x 40 cm each The Edge Of The Garden series was commissioned for 20:20 by Murray Art Museum Albury, 2020 All artworks are courtesy the artist unless otherwise stated.
EXHIBITING ARTISTS Eddie Abd • Maria Albiñana & Luke Eve • Margaret Ellen Burns & Julie Sundberg • Merinda Davies • Alana Holmberg • Sean O’Keeffe, Barbara Lepani & Brad Diedrich • Steven Oliver • Tracy Ponich • Ebony Secombe Tina Marie Sheil & Ramana Dienes-Browning • Shan Turner-Carroll
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Blue Mountains Cultural Centre acknowledges that the City of the Blue Mountains is located on the traditional lands of the Darug and Gundungurra peoples. Blue Mountains City Art Gallery would like to acknowledge the exhibiting artists and lenders and thank them for their support of this exhibition.
Copyright © Blue Mountains Cultural Centre, the author and the artists 2021. All rights reserved. Published in conjunction with the exhibition This changes everything 8 May – 20 June 2021 A Blue Mountains City Art Gallery exhibition curated by Rilka Oakley
IMAGE CREDITS BACK C O V E R : MARGARET ELLEN BURNS & JULIE SUNDBERG A photo a day: notes from 2020 (detail) 2020, archival digital prints & video. Courtesy the artists. FRONT COVER: EDDIE ABD to your health (still) 2021, single channel video, 3 min 45 sec. Courtesy the artist. INSIDE F O L D : SHAN TURNER-CARROLL Edge of the Garden, Nigel 2 2020, archival digital ink jet print, 114.5 x 78 cm, collection Maitland Regional Art Gallery, purchased 2021.