John Curtin Gallery 2023 Exhibition Program

Kaya, wanju

Hello and welcome

Ngullar kaditj nidja Curtin mia mia Whadjuk Noongar boodjar kurayeye boorda.

We acknowledge this place called Curtin is on Whadjuk Nyungar lands from the past, today and in the future. We acknowledge the Whadjuk Nyungar people as the traditional custodians of the Country our art museum sits on and acknowledge their continuing connection to land, sea and community and pay respects to past and present Elders.

Our Purpose

We inspire audiences and community to reflect on contemporary issues through the visual arts and to create a more just and equitable world.

Our Mission

We deliver exhibitions and programs and build our Collection to reflect the needs of our community, making art accessible for all.

2023 is a very special Silver Anniversary year for the John Curtin Gallery as we celebrate 25 years since opening in 1998. With new Strategic Partners and further progress on the development of the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling, 2023 brings the promise of change and hope for better futures as we strive to realise the ambitions expressed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

We commence our Silver Anniversary year in Bunuru, early February, with However vast the darkness… an assembly of powerful work centred on truth-telling. This suite of three distinct projects also marks the 25th Anniversary of our partnership with the Perth Festival.

We bring together two of the most acclaimed international contemporary artists at work today – Aziz Hazara from Afghanistan and Lisa Reihana from Aotearoa/New Zealand alongside nine Australian First Nations artists from the Brisbane based proppaNOW collective.

In May, during Djeran, we will present an exhibition that celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the repatriation of the Carrolup child artist’s drawings in The Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork to Nyungar Boodja.

AZIZ HAZARA, BOW ECHO, 2019

PRODUCTION STILL FROM 5 CHANNEL

DIGITAL VIDEO, COLOUR, SOUND, 4:01 MINS

Later, in Djilba we present Open Borders – the second triennial iteration of the state-wide project that originated with the first survey of contemporary regional arts practise in over two decades – The Alternative Archive in 2020/2021. Open Borders is a large survey exhibition featuring a selection of highlights from the 16 regional exhibitions showcasing work from over 300 regional contemporary artists.

And finally, during Kambarang, we present the 2023 John Stringer Prize which continues to commemorate the mercurial Australian curator John Stringer (1937–2007). The John Curtin Gallery has been proud to present this annual exhibition since 2018, celebrating artists making a major impact on contemporary practice in Western Australia.

In 2023, our growing community of partner and industry organisations enables us to extend our exhibitions through engaging public programs and outreach activities. We look forward each season to presenting an exciting array of activities and events to make our diverse program accessible to all of our audiences.

CHRIS MALCOLM DIRECTOR

Major Exhibitions Program

BUNURU SEASON 2 However vast the darkness…

OCCurrent Affair DJERAN SEASON

Carrolup Celebrating 10 years DJILBA SEASON

Regional Arts Triennial: Open Borders KAMBARANG SEASON

Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling

However vast the darkness…

In celebration of the John Curtin Gallery’s 25 year partnership with the Perth Festival, However vast the darkness… assembles a compelling group of works in deep reflection, as well as cogent protest, of the inequities suffered by peoples across the globe – many as a result of Empire building. Their collective voice of truth-telling is a beacon of hope, in a time of heightened global uncertainty and anxiety.

Bow Echo, 2019, is an award-winning project by Aziz Hazara, born in Kabul, Afghanistan, that confronts us with a harrowing vision of young Afghan boys, precariously perching on a mountain top, stormswept, desperately struggling to announce the urgency of their community’s plight against repression, amidst the cultural desolation of war-torn Afghanistan.

Aotearoa/New Zealand artist Lisa Reihana’s in Pursuit of Venus [infected], 2017 was the globally acclaimed highlight from the 2017 Venice Biennale, interrogating the impact of Empire building upon the peoples of the Pacific, from a unique First Nations perspective. After showing this monumental work to overwhelming acclaim in Perth for the first time in 2018, in honour of our Festival partnership, we have selected this magnificent work in reprise for 2023 to allow many who missed the opportunity in 2018 to experience one of the world’s greatest artworks created in the last 25 years.

OPENING EVENT

Thursday 9 February EXHIBITION 10 February – 16 April

SUPPORTED BY Perth Festival Wesfarmers Arts

LISA REIHANA, BANKS TRANSIT OF VENUS, MOURNING, STARS, SEX TRADE (DETAIL), 2017, DIASEC® PRINT ON CANSON ARCHIVAL RAG, 76 X 162CM. CURTIN UNIVERSITY ART COLLECTION.

OCCURRENT AFFAIR

First presented at University of Queensland Art Museum, this touring exhibition from Museums and Galleries NSW, brings together politically charged works by acclaimed First Nations artists from the Brisbane based artist collective proppaNOW: Vernon Ah Kee, Tony Albert, Richard Bell, Megan Cope, Jennifer Herd, Gordon Hookey and Laurie Nilsen, celebrating the strength, resilience and continuity of Aboriginal culture.

Together with the monumentally immersive works by Reihana and Hazara, the politically charged works in OCCurrent Affair combine to deepen the reflection and protest, of the inequities suffered by peoples across the globe as a result of Empire building. They challenge us to forge a better future amidst the growing darkness of adversity, in times of profound geopolitical tension and enduring repression, these artists present truth-telling as the way to illuminate a path through this darkness.

An exhibition from The University of Queensland Art Museum touring with Museums & Galleries of NSW. This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body. This project is assisted by the Australian Government’s Visions of Australia program.

BUNURU SEASON

Thursday 9 February EXHIBITION 10 February – 16 April

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SUPPORTED BY Perth Festival Wesfarmers Arts Lotterywest

A Decade of Carrolup

In this exhibition we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the landmark repatriation of the Carrolup child artist’s drawings in The Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork from Colgate University, New York to Nyungar Boodja in 2013.

Since the inaugural Koolark Koort Koorliny [Heart Coming Home] exhibition in August 2013 – when the entire Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork was exhibited for the very first time – we are committed to create a permanent and accessible home for this unique collection. The power of these artworks to be an effective catalyst of positive change forms the foundation for the development of the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling.

We explore the impact of the return of this remarkable collection of artworks by Nyungar and other Aboriginal children of the Stolen Generations detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement in the 1940s. For the first time we extend their story by bringing together other Carrolup artworks from notable Western Australian public collections. Alongside these works, we also showcase a selection of additional Carrolup artworks that have been acquired over the last decade, especially since 2020 when plans for the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling emerged as the new permanent home for The Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork.

OPENING EVENT

Thursday 11 May EXHIBITION 12 May – 9 July

SUPPORTED BY BHP Lotterywest

ONCE KNOWN CHILD ARTIST, THE GOLDEN ROAD, C1949, PASTEL AND CHARCOAL ON PAPER, 28 CM X 38.5 CM. THE HERBERT MAYER COLLECTION OF CARROLUP ARTWORK, CURTIN UNIVERSITY ART COLLECTION.

Regional Arts Triennial: Open Borders

Since 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, the presence of borders, and the fact that they can be closed and opened, has had innumerable impacts on our physical and psychological lives. Regional borders within WA were once accepted as a way of describing the different geographic areas of this huge state, or of delineating government jurisdictions but since COVID-19 many indigenous communities have been protected by borders, and some towns sought the border to isolate from the risks of COVID-19.

This theme of Open Borders was explored in 2022 through the work of over 300 artists involved in 16 group exhibitions and performances developed and presented throughout regional Western Australia as part of the Mycelium project – a project in the regional arts sector of Western Australia developed by Southern Forest Arts to nurture resilience and sustainability during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This Open Borders survey exhibition is co-curated by Albany-based independent curator Annette Davis in conjunction with the John Curtin Gallery’s Lia McKnight and Jane King and builds upon the experience and connections developed through The Alternative Archive – the successful state-wide survey of regional arts practice, presented in 2021.

OPENING EVENT

Thursday 10 August EXHIBITION

11 August – 8 October

SUPPORTED BY

Dept of Local Government, Sport, and Cultural Industries Southern Forest Arts

SARAH MILLS, EXTINCT, 2019, INSTALLATION VIEW, THE ALTERNATIVE ARCHIVE, JOHN CURTIN GALLERY, 2021. PHOTO: SUE-LYN MOYLE

John Stringer Prize 2023

The John Stringer Prize was inaugurated by The Collectors Club in 2015 in celebration of the memory of one of Australia’s most acclaimed art curators, the late John Stringer (1937–2007).

A long-term friend and mentor to its members, Stringer established The Collectors Club in Perth in 1996 to promote informed collecting and patronage of Western Australian contemporary art. Since 2018, the John Curtin Gallery has proudly presented the John Stringer Prize in partnership with The Collectors Club to continue this important legacy.

Each year, a panel of three leading arts professionals are invited by The Collectors Club to select six Western Australian-based contemporary artists whose practices they deem worthy of recognition. The six finalists commissioned to create new work for the 2023 John Stringer Prize are: Angelina Boona Karadada, Ilona McGuire, Andrew Nicholls, Amy Perejuan-Capone, Stewart Scambler and Corban Williams.

AWARD NIGHT

Thursday 2 November EXHIBITION 3 November - 10 December

SUPPORTED BY The Collectors Club The JCG Navigators

JACKY CHENG, WINNER 2022 JSP, ...THAT AWAITS AT THE END OF LIFE, 2022, INSTALLATION VIEW, JOHN STRINGER PRIZE 2022, JOHN CURTIN GALLERY. PHOTO: SUE-LYN MOYLE.

Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling

In 2013, The Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork was returned to Western Australia into the care of the John Curtin Gallery by Colgate University, Hamilton, New York, following its chance discovery there in 2004.

This collection of distinctive drawings, were created by Aboriginal children forcibly removed from their families and detained at the Carrolup Native Settlement, in Western Australia, in the 1940s. These treasured artworks are a compelling testament of the Stolen Generations that speak strongly of the steadfast resilience of Aboriginal people against the greatest of odds, and their enduring, deep spiritual connection to Country.

Fulfilling a long-standing commitment to create a new permanent home for The Herbert Mayer Collection of Carrolup Artwork, Curtin University launched this ambitious Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling project in 2020.

Carrolup Coolingah Wirn: the spirit of Carrolup children, opened in 2021 in a newly refurbished display space at John Curtin Gallery as a precursor to the Centre for Truth-telling. This exhibition will continue to evolve as a prelude to the Centre’s new development on the ground floor of the Gallery building.

In 2023 we are very excited to launch the CBD portal for the Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling. This will extend the Centre’s reach into the heart of the City of Perth, housed within one of the city’s most significant heritage landmarks – the Old Perth Boys School at Curtin 139, St Georges Terrace.

To find out more: curtin.edu/carrolupcentre

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: THOMAS JACKAMARRA, CLIFF RYDER, ONCE KNOWN ARTIST AND SIMPSON KELLY AT CARROLUP NATIVE SETTLEMENT, FEB 1950. PHOTOGRAPH BY VERA HACK, COURTESY OF THE NOEL & LILY WHITE COLLECTION.

Our Supporters

The John Curtin Gallery acknowledges and thanks our supporters who seek to change the world through art.

Make a Gift

Your individual gift will support thought-provoking exhibition experiences and diverse cultural learning opportunities. You may wish to make a financial gift today, donate an artwork, or consider leaving a gift in your Will.

The Navigators

Our Navigators are explorers and wayfinders, mapping points of connection between aesthetics and ethics, between art and conscience. They are art lovers who understand the subtle yet profound impact of guiding others to the experience of looking at the world through a different lens. Together, they enjoy exclusive exhibition previews and behind-the-scenes opportunities.

The Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling

The Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling is a long-term project of the Gallery, committed to truth-telling and community healing activities through the Carrolup artworks created by children of the Stolen Generations. There are many ways to be involved, whether individually, corporately, or through bespoke partnerships.

Corporate support

Our exhibitions and associated public programs reach into the broader Western Australian community as well as Curtin’s large student population. Sponsorship and partnership opportunities are available for like-minded organisations who are interested in promoting dialogue at the intersection of social change and aesthetics.

FIND OUT MORE

https://jcg.curtin.edu.au/support

CARROLUP CENTRE FOR TRUTH-TELLING

PRESENTING PARTNERS

With special thanks to all of our Carrolup Centre for Truth-telling supporters

Visit: curtin.edu.au/friends/our-community/carrolup/honour-roll

EXHIBITION PARTNERS PROGRAM PARTNERS SUPPORTING PARTNERS

Visions of Australia

Access and Inclusion

Everyone is welcome at the John Curtin Gallery. We are committed to ensuring art is accessible to everyone in our community. You can learn more on our website: www.jcg.curtin.edu.au/accessibility or at: about.curtin.edu.au/values-vision-strategy/ diversity-equity/disability-accessibility

All exhibitions and public programs at the Gallery are free of charge. Our facilitated workshops attract a fee. Discounts are available for pensioners, students and healthcare card holders. We accept the Companion Card for workshops.

Join the JCG mailing list

With an extensive exhibition program supported by a diverse public program of events, floor talks, workshops, tours and special initiatives, joining our mailing list is the best way to ensure you don’t miss anything. Visit: jcg.curtin.edu.au/contact to subscribe.

Visiting the Gallery

Enter the campus via the main entrance on Kent Street, Bentley, Western Australia.

For parking, there are short term visitor bays available in the Blue Zone, with payment taken at the closest pay station located south of the Gallery (see adjacent map). Curtin has an electronic pay-as-you-go parking system called CellOPark. Visit: www.cellopark.com.au to download the CellOPark app. All visitors should park in the Yellow Zone, Blue or Orange zones - rates and access vary, visit: properties.curtin.edu.au/getting-here/ driving/zones-and-rates. Parking on weekends is free.

There are a number of ACROD parking bays available. Please search www.properties.curtin.edu.au/maps/ using ‘Parking ACROD’ for the locations of these bays.

Taxi Stand 2 is located at the flagpoles adjacent to the John Curtin Gallery.

We encourage you to plan your visit. For more information you can speak to our friendly team on +61 8 9266 4155, email gallery@curtin.edu.au or visit www.jcg.curtin.edu.au/plan-your-visit