2024 Program Guide Hervey Bay Regional Gallery
About Hervey Bay Regional Gallery Hervey Bay Regional Gallery (HBRG) is home to a thought-provoking program of exhibitions and events, staging internally curated exhibitions alongside touring exhibitions with strong resonances to local, Queensland and national arts discourse. As an emerging destination gallery, HBRG works with leading national and local artists to develop visual arts in the region and reach new audiences through engaging and relevant gallery programming. Getting Here We are located at: 166 Old Maryborough Road, Pialba, Qld. Parking is available via Charles St and pedestrian access is via Charles St and Main St.
Cover image: Phoebe Paradise, Portrait of a House 1, 2022, digital illustration. Collection: City of Moreton Bay.
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Opening Hours Mondays: Closed Tuesdays - Fridays: 10am - 4pm Weekends: 10am - 2pm Galleries close for exhibition changeover Contact Us Email: regionalgallery@frasercoast. qld.gov.au Phone: 07 4197 4206 Website: hbrg.com.au Accessibility Art is for everyone and Hervey Bay Regional Gallery (HBRG) is fully accessible. For more information head to hbrg.com.au/visit-us
Acknowledgement of Country Welcome to Butchulla Country (land, sea and sky) Djali Galangoor [lit. today good] On behalf of the Butchulla people, welcome to Butchulla Country (land, sea and sky). It is with open hearts and a profound respect for people, place and protocols that we extend a warm welcome to all who journey through our lands, enjoy our seas and breathe the air under our beautiful sky. Here, amidst the timeless landscapes of Butchulla Country (land, sea and sky), we honour the footsteps of our ancestors, ‘old people’, elders past-presentemerging and embrace the spirits of the land, sea and sky, and our creator ‘Biral’. Our connection to this special place transcends time, echoing the wisdom and stories of our people passed down through generations. As custodians of Butchulla Country, we invite you to share in the richness of our culture, to listen to the voices on the wind as it carries tales of resilience and to witness the vibrant fabric of traditions and
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practices of our people’s continuity of existence and mind-body-spirit connection to Country. May your presence here be a safe and harmonious experience between past and present, a celebration of diversity, unity and mutual respect. May you find comfort in the beauty of our landscapes, our art, our culture, our language, our expression, our presence and inspiration in the strength of our diverse community. All life is a shared journey, so let us walk together along this path, acknowledging the past, embracing the present and shaping a future where the echoes of our efforts ripple out for eternity to benefit all generations to come. Biralunbar Galangoor [Many Thanks], again, welcome to Butchulla Country. Veronica Bird General Manager, Butchulla Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (BNTAC)
Welcome to our 2024 program A message from the Mayor
A message from the HBRG Director
I invite you to discover cutting-edge local and national art at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery.
Since reopening in April 2022, HBRG has become a place of pride for the Fraser Coast community, reaching new audiences and establishing itself as a landmark cultural attraction for locals and visitors alike.
In 2024 the gallery presents a program of inspiring and thought-provoking exhibitions that engage with the important issues of our time. These exhibitions and the gallery’s regular program of talks, workshops and events reinforce the important function of art for telling stories and creating connections in our communities. Through the eyes of artists, we can better understand our world. I hope you take time to enjoy the gallery’s beautiful surroundings and engage with the vibrant exhibitions presented by the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery team. – Mayor George Seymour
The 2024 exhibition program draws on the goals of the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, centring storytelling as a foundational value. Through the work of leading contemporary artists audiences will discover vibrant and diverse hyper-local stories, from the history of South Sea Islander labourers in the region, to the innovative use of recycled waste water in sustainable timber plantations, to the unconventional beauty of suburban architecture. Developing and promoting the arts in the region, the 2024 program celebrates established Fraser Coast artists and platforms the next generation of creative talent. Through partnerships with leading national institutions, local artists’ work will be complimented by cutting-edge art from Australia and the Asia Pacific. HBRG’s team is thrilled to present this year’s exhibition program and we look forward to welcoming you at the gallery. – Sarah Thomson, HBRG Director (Acting)
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Collection Highlight
In 2023 Hervey Bay Regional Gallery launched the inaugural Girra: Fraser Coast National Art Prize, a biennial art prize themed around ‘people, place and the environment’. The major acquisitive prize of $25,000 was awarded to Western Australian artist Anna Louise Richardson for her work, I asked for a sign (wedge-tailed eagle). The two-metre tall charcoal drawing on cement fibreboard is a significant new acquisition for the gallery’s art collection and is included in a collection display focusing on our feathered friends.
Image: Anna Louise Richardson, I asked for a sign (wedge-tailed eagle), 2023, charcoal drawing on cement fibreboard. Hervey Bay Regional Gallery Art Collection
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Exhibition
Wilhelmus Breikers: Eat the Moon (This is not a dystopian parable) 23 February – 21 April 2024
In Eat the Moon (This is not a dystopian parable), Wilhelmus Breikers presents a selection of works drawing upon reflective examinations of self, questions of reception and perception and psychological dimensions of landscape. Led by a desire to respond literally to his surroundings, Breikers’ work invariably moves in the direction of metaphor. There is a discernible element of introspection in the work, an enquiry of content as well as form—art for its own sake and art for the sake of something else. Born in Holland, Wilhelmus Breikers arrived in Australia at the age of 7, completing a visual art degree in Brisbane in his early twenties. A long-term resident of Hervey Bay, Wilhelmus has continued to develop his art practice and has been keenly involved in the cultural life of the Fraser Coast community. With rough-hewn figures and scenery that is often contestable, Eat the Moon destabilises our viewpoint, opening a window to unexpected narratives and identifications.
Opposite page: Wilhelmus Breikers, I am optimistic sometimes, 2020, acrylic on canvas
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Exhibition
Cane
23 February – 21 April 2024
Cane explores the history of indentured South Sea Islander workers in the Queensland sugarcane industry. This exhibition brings together historical objects and personal accounts with contemporary artworks from local, national and international artists including Sancintya Mohini Simpson, Dylan Mooney, Shari O’Dywer, Jasmine TogoBrisby, Luis Vasquez La Roche, and Shivanjani Lal. Bringing local stories into dialogue with international perspectives, this exhibition makes connections between agricultural and labour practices across colonies of the British Empire in the 19th Century. Through a process of truth-telling and creative exchange, Cane celebrates the enduring spirit and cultural legacy of Australian South Sea Islanders in the Fraser Coast region.
Opposite page: Leo Favell, Polson Cemetery South Sea Islander Memorial, 1972, Point Vernon
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Exhibition
Asia Pacific Contemporary: Three Decades of APT Asia Pacific Video 11 May – 14 July 2024 11 May – 30 June 2024
Asia Pacific Contemporary and Asia Pacific Video celebrate the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art’s flagship exhibition, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT), recently in its tenth iteration. Featuring works that have appeared in the Triennial since its debut in the 1990s, and across media from painting and sculpture to video, performance and works on paper, these twin touring exhibitions from QAGOMA showcase art from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan, Vanuatu and Vietnam. As these varied and compelling artworks demonstrate, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art continues to be a pre-eminent platform for the art of Asia, Australia and the Pacific, surveying a vast and dynamic region through a series of exhibitions, forums and cultural exchanges. The diverse works in ‘The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art’ reflect an embrace of contemporary art in all its forms, ranging from the ceremonial to the conceptual, and from the deeply personal to the resolutely social.
Opposite page: Tomoko Kashiki, I am a rock, 2012. Kenneth and Yasuko Myer Collection of Contemporary Asian Art. Purchased 2013 with funds from Michael Sidney Myer through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation.
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Exhibition
Matilda Davis: The White Man’s Web 11 May – 30 June 2024
Born and raised on Badjala/Batjala Djaa (Country) in Maryborough, Matilda Davis is a young creative producing paintings, photography, poetry and song. Davis pursues these creative interests to honour her maternal grandfather, her Aboriginal Ancestors before him, her connection to Country and the first Badjala/Batjala Law/Lore - “What is good for Country comes first.” Davis’ great-great-grandmother was born on the banks of Moonabula (the mary river), on beautiful Badjala/Batjala djaa. Moonabula flows out on to Korrawinga, (the great sandy strait), connecting the sweetwater of Moonabula with the saltwater of Korrawinga. Davis’ first solo exhibition The White Man’s Web responds to the suffering of Country, specifically Sea Country, confronting the colonial and capitalist legacy of extractive and exploitative use of land and water. Utilising waste found discarded on Badjala/Batjala beaches, bushland and waters, The White Man’s Web asks for us to consider not just the immediate impacts of environmental exploitation on Country, but the impacts on Indigenous communities; stories, totemic connections, and ability to practice culture.
Opposite page: Matilda Davis, The White Man’s Web, 2023, digital photograph
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Exhibition
Hervey Bay Art Society: 40th Anniversary of ACAE 27 July – 8 September 2024
Hervey Bay Art Society proudly showcases their 40th Annual Competitive Art Exhibition (ACAE) at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery. Six sections will be on display at the gallery, showcasing a broad range of subjects and mediums including, landscapes and seascapes, abstract artworks, flora and fauna, figurative works and portraits, miniatures, and an open category. Since 1984 the Annual Competitive Art Exhibition has been the largest community art competition in the region, allowing local, Queensland and interstate artists to come together to share their work.
Opposite page: Paul Neale, Cockatoo Eating Berries, 2023, pastel
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Exhibition
Phoebe Paradise: ‘Burbs to the Bay 21 September – 17 November 2024
‘Burbs to the Bay presents a surreal reimagining of South East Queensland suburbia filled with technicolour streetscapes and twisted architecture. In this sweaty, twilight world the iconography and aesthetic of subtropic Queensland is brought to life. Known for her brightly coloured illustrations, murals and public art installations, Brisbane/Meanjin-based artist Phoebe Paradise’s work examines the often-overlooked charm of the suburban and mundane. Evoking a fever dream of endless summer heat and chirping cicadas, ‘Burbs to the Bay creates a sense of both wonder and unease. Burbs from the Bay builds upon Sunburnt in the suburbs, an exhibition developed by City of Moreton Bay at Pine Rivers Art Gallery in 2022.
Opposite page: Phoebe Paradise, Foundation, 2023, photo by Joey Bailey. Commissioned by Museum of Brisbane for Botanica
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Exhibition
Forest to Fibre: FCRC Hardwood Plantations 21 September – 17 November 2024
In 1991 the then Hervey Bay City Council became a worldleader in sustainable wastewater treatment by establishing their first effluent irrigated native hardwood timber plantation. Fast forward to 2024 and these innovative plantations are diverting 2.5 billion litres of effluent wastewater from our oceans and into Fraser Coast Regional Council managed agroforestry every year. A key asset for the Fraser Coast community, Council’s effluent irrigated plantations combine carbon sequestration and a reduction of ocean pollution with the long-term value of sustainable agroforestry. Featuring research from some of Australia’s leading universities and architectural academics along with loans from the State Library of Queensland’s exhibition Purpose Built: Architecture for a better tomorrow, the Forest to Fibre project will present cutting edge research into sustainable timber processing and design alongside local stories, artworks and histories at the Hervey Bay Regional Gallery. Supported by FCRC’s Water Reuse team.
Opposite page: Purpose Built exhibition, State Library of Queensland, photograph by Katie Bennett, 2023
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Exhibition
Regional Spotlight
21 September – 17 November 2024
The inaugural Regional Spotlight exhibition is a showcase of artistic talent from across the region. Developed from an expressions of interest process, the exhibition brings together painting, drawing, photography, and sculptural works by artists living and working in the Wide Bay-Burnett. The Regional Spotlight initiative is an opportunity for artists at any stage in their career, working in any visual art medium, to receive mentorship and share their work at the gallery, 2024 Regional Spotlight artists include: Vanessa Allegra, Avi Amesbury, Adam Anderson, Susan Zela Bissett, Kerri Dixon, Seinileva Huakau, Julie McGillivray, Monique Mennie, Dona Norwood and Jacinta Padgett.
Opposite page: Julie McGillivray, Sweet Tucker, 2023, acrylic paint, resin, banksia cones
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Exhibition
Mia Boe: Guwinganj 30 November 2024 – 16 February 2025
Mia Boe is a Melbourne-based painter from Brisbane with Butchulla and Burmese ancestry. Her work is influenced by the inheritance and ‘disinheritance’ of these two cultures, often responding to the British Empire’s deliberate and violent interferences with the cultural heritages of Burma/ Myanmar and K’gari. Through her unique depiction of elongated figures and stylised landscapes, Boe records and recovers Indigenous histories in a contemporary context, fusing the personal and historical. Boe’s solo exhibition at Hervey Bay Regional Gallery will be developed on Butchulla Country as the recipient of the 2024 Fiona Foley residency.
Opposite page: Mia Boe, Wongari Marat Marat, 2023, synthetic polymer on linen.
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Exhibition
Picturing the End
30 November 2024 – 16 February 2025
Depictions and predictions of civilisational collapse, looming planetary limits and existential threats reverberate through contemporary culture. While the cause and appropriate response to these apocalyptic visions may be a point of debate across the political spectrum, the assurance of mass human suffering just around the corner has popular appeal. As “the End” of humanity flashes across our screens, what can we learn about ourselves and our public cultures by examining these narratives? Bringing together works from significant Australian artists Tiyan Baker, Kinly Grey, Guy Louden, Dana Lawrie, Tracey Moffatt, Grant Stevens, and more, Picturing the End reflects on how our relationship with our own mortality intersects with narratives of humanity’s downfall.
Opposite page: Tiyan Baker, Bamboo Paradise, 2019, installation view. Photo: Dan McCabe
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What’s On HBRG Staff Director: Sarah Thomson Curator: Llewellyn Millhouse Gallery Officer: Lois Shoebridge Public Programs and Community Engagement Officer: Sam Raveneau
Contact Email: regionalgallery@frasercoast.qld.gov.au Phone: 07 4197 4206 website: hbrg.com.au
Hervey Bay Regional Gallery hosts a regular program of exhibition openings, artist talks, panel discussions, tours, workshops and other events that expand upon and enrich viewer’s experience of art. Find out more via hbrg.com.au
Group Bookings and Education
Butchulla Seasonal Garden
Group Bookings and Education HBRG welcomes group bookings from primary, secondary and tertiary class groups as well as community groups. Enquire via hbrg.com.au/visit-us or call 07 4197 4206.
Surrounding HBRG on two sides, the Butchulla Seasonal Garden showcases our native flora and how it is utilised by the region’s original inhabitants. Follow the illustrated signage to explore the garden at any time and learn more about the traditional, seasonal uses of plants.
Stay up to date Opposite page: Nala whale sculpture, commissioned by Fraser Coast Regional Council with woodworking by Ross Bradbury. Photography:
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/HerveyBayRegionalGallery @herveybayregionalgallery
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