OPEN BORDERS | Regional Arts Triennial 2023

Bentley Campus enjoys the privilege of being located on the site where the Derbal Yerrigan (Swan River) and the Djarlgarra (Canning River) meet. The area is of great cultural significance and sustains the life and well-being of the traditional custodians past and present.

The John Curtin Gallery is proud to honour the Noongar people and value this place of shared learning. We recognise the impacts of colonisation on Indigenous Australians and are committed to moving forward together in a spirit of mutual honour and respect.

Judith Stewart, Refuge at Craignish (detail), 2022, oil on canvas, 121 x 92 cm. Courtesy of Tania Spencer. Photo by Sharon Baker

In early 2020, as thousands of West Australians flocked along Canning Highway to witness the extraordinary event that was Highway to Hell, staged as the opening event for the Perth Festival, little did we know of the impending hell that was about to be unleashed in the form of the global Coronavirus pandemic.

On the 21st February, WA recorded its first case of COVID-19 and sadly its first death a few weeks later. Our then-Premier, Mark McGowan declared a state of emergency on 15 March and WA closed its borders to the rest of the nation on 24 March. On 1 April, regional borders within the State were closed, effectively locking down all movement. The effects on all of us reverberate today, and in many ways our lives have been changed forever. As the pandemic raged within Australia and globally, Western Australia remained cut off and isolated from the rest of the world. It would be almost 700 days before the State’s borders were fully opened again, remaining closed to the rest of the world until 3rd March 2022.

In 2020, we were well advanced in planning the exhibition, The Alternative Archive, a first iteration of what has become known as the Regional Arts Triennial. We had been busy the previous year travelling across the State to meet the artists and curators and view 13 regional exhibitions, and the final works had been selected for the Survey exhibition to be held in May of that year. The ensuing shut-downs, lockdowns and funding challenges, resulted in the exhibition finally being staged in 2021 to great acclaim, attracting more than 6,000 visitors.

We are very pleased to be involved once again in this iteration of the Regional Arts Triennial appropriately titled Open Borders. This project once again started at grass-roots level within the regional visual arts community. Under the leadership of Southern Forest Arts, it began life as The Mycelium Project, designed to support regional artists and curators through the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic. The healthy network of fungal mycelia is a potent metaphor for the interconnectedness of the regional areas and the vital role that the arts plays in the well-being of communities.

FOREWORD

JANE KING | Director, John Curtin Gallery

LIA McKnight | Curator, John Curtin Gallery

Visiting all 12 of the regional exhibitions developed under the Open Borders banner, we took to the road again across 2022 and early 2023, joined by regional Independent Curator Annette Davis. As we travelled around the State, we were invigorated by the energy that curators and artists had invested in this project, each venue interpreting the theme in a very individual way, yet there being strong evidence of the connecting “fungal threads”. It was clear that the project had provided a vehicle for community recovery and healing everywhere we went.

Representing the culmination of this second Regional Arts Triennial project, the Open Borders survey exhibition at the John Curtin Gallery showcases a compelling cross section of regional Western Australian contemporary art practice. While the exceptional standard of the work presented is certainly worth noting, the real impacts of the project have been felt by each of the 146 artists involved, not just the 40 shown here. Dialogues were initiated, new opportunities arose, visibility increased, and artistic practice was deepened and expanded. Most significantly, meaningful connections were made and continue to flourish.

We were deeply impressed by the energy and commitment of the artists and curators we encountered throughout the Open Borders project and have no doubt that the resilience of our State’s regional arts practice is profoundly indebted to their dedication, and many others like them. In turn, the John Curtin Gallery looks forward to continuing to play a key role in exchange and engagement with the regional visual arts sector.

OPEN BORDERS

ANNETTE DAVIS

Independent Curator: Open Borders

As COVID-19 spread across the globe, the ‘open borders’ theme emerged from my personal experience during the pandemic. On the drive from my home in Albany to the state’s capital city of Perth, I pass signs which welcome me to the Wheatbelt and Peel Regions, and indicate that borders – invisible and seemingly arbitrary –have been crossed.

Pre-COVID-19, who would have thought that these regional borders, long established for governing and funding purposes, could be enforced as police-controlled checkpoints, requiring a G2G pass? With a daughter in Perth and a son who had moved to Melbourne in January 2020 and then fled back to WA in mid-March just before the State border was closed, I keenly felt the impact of borders. I knew that many of my art contemporaries in regional Western Australia felt the same.

CURATORIAL BRIEF AND PROCESS

The Open Borders project fits within an over-arching framework titled Mycelium, run by Southern Forest Arts under the dynamic leadership of Fiona Sinclair. In nature, mycelium is the expansive network of fungal threads which support the eco-system through absorbing nutrients, decomposing plant material, providing food and sending messages to sustain the health of plants. There are clear parallels to the role of artists in the regions. A healthy, active, flourishing regional arts sector is essential not only for the wellbeing of regional residents and communities but also for fostering a State in which ideas and imagination are valued. Building on the foundations laid by The Alternative Archive, Open Borders has extended networks and connections and has been the catalyst for overcoming barriers and creating new opportunities across the State. In developing the curatorial brief, I was interested to learn about the experience of others. The regional artists and curators who contributed to the Open Borders project all had their own personal experiences of COVID-19 to draw on however, the theme was not just about COVID-19 borders. Turning the closed border on its head revealed

opportunities to consider the concept of ‘borders’ in myriad ways. Artists and curators were encouraged to think widely about physical borders which exist within their community as well as social, psychological and emotional borders.

From August 2022 to February 2023, I visited each exhibition, accompanied by either Jane King, Director, or Lia McKnight, Curator. At each exhibition we met the curator/s and artists, and learnt about the curatorial approach and the artists’ ideas. These visits were fundamental to the project. Speaking directly with the curators and artists, viewing the artworks ‘in the flesh’, and gaining an understanding of the local context informed and enhanced our understanding and knowledge, and underpinned the choices we made for this exhibition. In the process of selecting the artworks by 40 artists, we found connections which crossed the borders of geography and distance.

ARTISTS’ RESPONSES

Many artists have very personal perspectives on the borders and rules enforced during the COVID-19 pandemic. In their works they reflect on the closed regional, state and international borders, confinement, social isolation, and the importance of places of refuge. Other artists examine the bigger picture of connection and communication, even at times of enforced isolation. For Indigenous artists, the state and regional borders impacted cultural maintenance as well as the provision of practical services. Their artworks celebrate the fact that the borders have no relevance to their stories and cultural practices.

Several artists focus on physical borders, with some employing the basic materials of wire, wood and sticks in their artworks. A number of these works speak directly of the rural experience; clearing a firebreak or the removal of fences as farms increase in size. Other artists use the basic tools of surveying, such as survey pegs and surveyor tape. Some artists address their physical remoteness, and after reflection, choose to celebrate this rather than see it as a barrier.

Societal barriers, unseen but keenly felt, are expressed in many artworks. Some artists reflect on the potential for community and family judgement to suppress individual authenticity. Others seek to remove barriers to allow for personal and societal growth. Some artworks convey deeply personal stories of loss and vulnerability, of grief and acceptance.

Several artists highlight the absence of borders in nature, with artworks dealing with the feral red fox and the spread of the debilitating canker through Marri forests. Other works allude to the political barriers and narrow thinking which impacts decision making on environmental issues, both local and universal.

REGIONAL APPROACHES

In addition to the artists’ individual responses, each of the twelve exhibitions brought its own perspective to the theme. The curator mentees and mentors were asked to consider how, through their curatorial approach, they could overcome some of the seen and unseen borders which exist in their community. Each exhibition embraced this challenge, and the processes and results were inspiring.

In Geraldton, the curatorial approach and the exhibition presentation were designed to overcome social, gender, community and physical borders. The imposing edifice of the Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Geraldton’s previous Town Hall, was challenged by presenting artworks in-situ in a nearby bush reserve. The artists embraced this challenge and created works which linked to those installed in the gallery space. To expand the creative scope of the project, the Gallery put out a call to the community which led to the involvement of the local Chinese Dance Hub, which had never before participated in a visual art project. Assumptions of identity were also challenged by the curatorial decision to identify each artist by their first initial and surname only, rather than their full name.

Catherine Higham, Unseen Assembly, 2022, digital media on aluminium plate, 120 x 50 cm

Other exhibitions opened the ‘border’ around their town or region to involve artists from other places. In many cases, the opportunity to bring artists together in a themed exhibition was in itself a significant step towards breaking down the barrier of isolation. The exhibition in Ravensthorpe brought together artists from the coast and inland across a spread of hundreds of kilometres. Interestingly, even in the Margaret River area which is known for its concentration of artists, the Open Borders project brought a rare opportunity for local artists to participate in a themed exhibition led by a curator. The exhibition’s presentation in the prestigious and privately owned Vasse Felix Gallery represented a significant border crossing.

In several locations, the barrier of isolation was overcome when artists came together to discuss their works-inprogress. In Esperance, the young curator focused on local emerging artists and designed a process in which each hosted a ‘show and tell’. By having their art-making confirmed and supported, these get-togethers were transformative for the participants.

In contrast, the exhibition at The Butter Factory Studios in Denmark was presented by an established stable of experienced artists. This group opened their borders by inviting a guest artist to join them and by engaging an independent curator who introduced new ideas.

Some exhibitions brought together artists from across generations. In Port Hedland, the curator opened the gallery up to young people and asked them to imagine their future without boundaries. Young creative writers were included in the Narrogin and Carnamah exhibitions. In Kununurra, the name of the arts centre, ‘waringarri,’ is a Miriwoong word meaning ‘many people together’. The exhibition involved artists from different language groups and from different generations. The inclusion of work of senior, deceased, artists was an important part of the curator’s approach, to continue to tell their stories and to honour their legacy.

In Kalgoorlie-Boulder, creativity expanded beyond the visual arts to poetry, performance and to food! The opening event at Artgold featured an ‘edible terrain’ in keeping with the exhibition’s sub-theme of ‘Erosion’. The creative thinking which led to this element of delicious fun illustrates how the Open Borders’ curators created new connections and collaborations, as well as strengthening existing relationships.

More boundaries were crossed by extending the scope of this project to the performing arts, through the commissioning of performances in three communities. This resulted in the creative development of a rap performance in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, a contemporary dance/theatre work in Broome and an aerial performance in the Gascoyne.

View of the Goldfields, leaving Kalgoorlie/Boulder. Photo A Davis

Open Borders exhibition view Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kununurra. Photo A Davis

Like The Alternative Archive, Open Borders is a multifaceted project. Each has developed and harnessed the skills, capacity and vision of artists, curators and arts organisations. As these two exhibitions have demonstrated, there are many highly skilled, deep thinking and talented artists who live in many different locations across Western Australia. Accompanying them are hardworking arts workers, paid and voluntary, who create opportunities in their community to celebrate ideas and their creative expression.

Open Borders has encouraged consideration, reflection and expression on the seen and unseen borders in our lives. The artworks by 40 artists presented here are a selection of these responses. This significant exhibition brings the voices from communities across this vast State to a metropolitan audience, further contributing to the opening of borders through creativity and vision.

Annette Davis is a curator and artist whose experience has been enriched by living in the Kimberley, Pilbara and now on the south coast of Western Australia. Over thirty years, Annette has developed many art and cultural history projects which share a focus on telling people’s stories, particularly about connection to place.

As an artist, Annette works with a range of media and is interested in finding ways to express the layers of history within a landscape.

Place Drawing by Jodie Groves, in Wonthella Bushland for the Open Borders exhibition, Geraldton. Photo A Davis

ARTISTS

AGNES ARMSTRONG

AMELIA BLANCO

MELISSA BOUGHEY

ANDREW BOWMAN-BRIGHT

BETTY BUNDAMURRA

PADDY GWAMBANY/MALGBIRR CARLTON

TINA CARMODY

NED CROSSLEY

ROSS STOREY

CHINESE DANCE HUB

MELISSA DRUMMOND

ELIZABETH EDMONDS

SEBASTIAN ESSERS

GABRIELE GEHLHAAR

NIKKI GREEN

JODIE GROVES

SHAYNE HADLEY

CATHERINE HIGHAM

PETER HILL

LYNDA HORN

EMMALINE JAMES

LILY MINDINDIL KARADADA

MARCIA LEONARD

LOUISE LODGE

ELISA MARKES-YOUNG

JANINE MCCRUM

JEN MITCHELL

KATE ALIDA MULLEN

JENNY MUTTER

KELLY NELISSEN

PHYLLIS BINJALK NINGARMARA

MARIANNE PENBERTHY

LORI PENSINI

HELEN SEIVER

JUDITH STEWART

LOUISE TASKER

CAT TINK

MONIQUE TIPPETT

SARA WALKER

LYNDALL WATSON

Melissa Boughey, Sweet dream constellation (reaching for the sky), 2022, oil on canvas, 135 x 110 cm. Photo by Bo Wong

AGNES YAMBOONG ARMSTRONG

BORN

Ivanhoe Station, Western Australia

LIVES

Kununurra, Kimberley Region

LANGUAGE GROUP

Miriwoong

Ceremonial dances are performed in different communities across the Kimberley as a form of cultural exchange between language groups. These objects made by Agnes Armstrong are worn in the Miriwoong dance called Ngamoowalem (Ivanhoe) Joonba. Dancers wearing the paperbark hats often represented ‘witch doctors’ or ‘medicine men’. The women’s Balmarra or cross-thread totems are carried by female dancers in a dance style called Moonga Moonga. These particular totems represent mermaids in a verse belonging to the Ngamoowalem Joonba. The Jilbbirri is a pole which has three cross-thread totems attached to it which performers dance around and represents a ‘clever man.’

waringarriarts.com.au

Born beside a billabong on Ivanhoe Station I grew up with old people. They taught me lots about hunting - all the bush foods. I used to work at Ivanhoe Station doing housework and gardening. I came to Kununurra and started schooling during the ‘60s. Before that I had been at the Research Station School. During the ‘70s I was at the Beagle Bay Mission School. I came back to Kununurra then moved to Dingo Springs where I watched the old people carving boab nuts. After that I came back here to Waringarri Arts to do painting.

Left to right Agnes Armstrong, Ivanhoe Joonba Headwear, 2022, ochre painted paperbark, string, feather, 75 x 50 x 50 cm each. Jilbbirri (detail), 2022, wool, bamboo, wood, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts. Shared custodian: Brenda Ningarmara. Photos by Tim Lanzon

Metal Trees Don’t Grow comes from the artist’s experience of living in Port Hedland and her concern for the future of her community. In a place wholly driven by the mining and export of iron ore for steel production, Blanco perceives both the opportunities and the limitations that exist for young people. Blanco overcame these barriers by pursuing education and work in other places and has now chosen to return to Port Hedland to be with her multigenerational family. She takes inspiration

from her three simultaneous careers -in videography and photography, lighting design for events and as a mechanic. She enjoys drawing on all three skill sets in her art, mostly focussing on movement, light and shadow.

Just like trees have the potential to grow, so does our home. But when faced with impossible circumstances how can we? And will anything be done about the underlying issues within the shadows?

Port Hedland, Western Australia

BORN

Port Hedland, Pilbara Region

AMELIA BLANCO

Amelia Blanco, Metal Trees Don’t Grow (detail), 2022, steel wire, light projection, dimensions variable, 70 x 50 x 40 cm

MELISSA BOUGHEY

BORN

Perth, Western Australia

LIVES

Kentdale, Great Southern Region

Melissa Boughey’s paintings are usually inspired by the landscape. Through her energetic gestural marks, she expresses elements of its wildness as well as where nature has been tamed. In this series of works, Boughey has employed her gestural mark making to express her feelings about the intensely personal and emotional experience of witnessing her close friend’s death.

melissaboughey.com @melissa_boughey_art

When my friend was diagnosed with terminal cancer she accessed the voluntary assisted dying program and asked me, along with three other close friends, to be present with her as she transitioned. It was peaceful and I was honoured to be present as she passed between life and death. The ultimate border. Following a period of inertia, I eventually began painting; trusting in process. I drew the body in repose and then subtly erased, obscured, layered using personal cues and references. Somewhat cathartic, these works freed me.

Melissa Boughey, Flight Path Atoms (channelling, green and granite), 2022, oil on canvas, 135 x 110 cm.

Photo by Bo Wong

This work comes from the cultural renaissance that is happening in small wheatbelt communities through the North Midlands Project. This initiative is led by Andrew Bowman-Bright, his partner David and community members. Bowman-Bright works across several fronts – caring for the town and region’s history and creating opportunities for individual and community expression. The North Midlands Project challenges stereotypes of identity in the Wheatbelt by giving voice to diversity.

ANDREW BOWMAN-BRIGHT

This version of Snakes and Ladders conveys the social borders which can exist in a small community. The placement of the wooden ladder against the boardgame conveys a sense of hope by offering a way to climb over these barriers of judgement.

Snakes + Ladders originated in ancient India as Moksha Patam. Attributes, behaviours and beliefs serve as borders. Whether they are positive or negative, they have the potential to restrict, constrain and create walls within us. Sometimes this is good, and other times less so. The original of this boardgame belonged to Jill Tilly during her youth in Coorow in the 1940s. It is now part of the collection of the Carnamah Historical Society & Museum.

Perth, Western Australia LIVES

Carnamah, Wheatbelt Region

Andrew Bowman-Bright, Avarice + Truthfulness (detail), 2022, printed canvas and wooden ladder, 280 x 280 cm. Courtesy of the Carnamah Historical Society & Museum

BETTY BUNDAMURRA

BORN

Karunji Station, Western Australia

LIVES

Kununurra, Kimberley Region

LANGUAGE GROUP

Ngarinyin

Wunambal

Worrora

Betty Bundamurra is a prolific artist, storyteller and poet from Kalumburu. Along with other community elders, she established Kira Kiro Artists in 2009 to represent artists from her area. Their involvement with Waringarri Aboriginal Arts demonstrates the way in which Waringarri fosters artistic activity across language groups. In this painting, Bundamurra depicts people, animals and spirits in her characteristic illustrative style, expressing the richness of her country.

waringarriarts.com.au

Women hunting and gathering the animals. Animals hiding in the hedges and animal tracks of all sorts. Barramundi fish and all. The dog is there hunting all the animals following their friends. Spirits too talk normally around pools and rock art areas. Kira Kiro are planting during the rain season dragging their long hair while dropping seeds.

Betty Bundamurra, Hunting for the animals, 2022, natural pigment on paper, 57 x 76 cm. Courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts.

Photo by Tim Lanzon

waringarriarts.com.au

PADDY GWAMBANY / MALGBIRR CARLTON

Paddy Carlton was a senior elder and law man of the Miriwoong Gadjerriwoong community and held significant status across the East Kimberley. Carlton grew up participating in cave painting and maintained the techniques learnt as a boy. He became a visionary committed to sharing the importance of Miriwoong Gadjerriwoong culture, and this led to the establishment of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts Centre. This painting is an important part of Carlton’s legacy and is often displayed both to honour him and to teach the story to the younger generation.

This is an area of the artist’s traditional Country near Bullo River Station in the Northern Territory. Along the bottom of the painting runs the Victoria River. Flowing down the centre between the two hills is Goorbadjim – Bullo River. The two hills form the Bullo River Gorge. Kirrthang – Blanket Lizard Dreaming is the main hill in the lower left corner. Beside it is a waterhole –Goorlaling. This is where the dingo passed in the Dreamtime. At the top of the painting is Wulajabi the snake travelling through country in the Dreamtime. His head lies in an area of bull grass.

Paddy Gwambany/Malgbirr Carlton, KirrthangBlanket Lizard Dreaming, 2004, natural pigment on canvas, 130 x 125 cm. Courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts. Photo by Tim Lanzon

TINA CARMODY

BORN

Esperance, Western Australia

LIVES

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Goldfields-Esperance Region

LANGUAGE GROUP

Upurli/Wadjuri

The border restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how borders for Indigenous communities are different to official borders. The State border closure stopped some Indigenous communities from travelling to significant sites for ceremony. However, it also brought the opportunity for a renewed appreciation of the local country. In making this work, Carmody pushed her own creative boundaries by using different techniques and materials, including ‘punu’ (wood burning) on ‘walka’ boards. In her practice Carmody details the day-to-day life of connection to identity, culture and country.

Her depiction of the Seven Sisters story shows their travel across the sky and where they came down, creating waterways to foster the flourishing of the country.

Springtime In Our Country depicts the abundance of life and vibrancy in our desert. Many people panicked about availability of food – I didn’t because I was confident that there was an abundance of food to be found on my land. I saw the backlash from many regarding travel restrictions, yet I felt pleased that people were able to travel in their local surrounds to see and experience our wonderful and unique country.

Tina Carmody, Springtime In Our Country, 2022, pyrography, carving, etching and acrylic on board, 100 x 60 cm. Photo by Sharon Baker

Many borders were crossed in the making of this artwork. The dancers come from different parts of China but now call Geraldton their ‘forever home’. The group overcame cultural and artform barriers when it responded to the Geraldton Regional Art Galleries’ community call out. Under the guidance of choreographer and dance instructor F. Wang, the group responded to the exhibition theme with a dance that explores the boundaries of life, and how the earth has gradually become a global village.

CHINESE DANCE HUB

Yet water and viruses do not respect national boundaries. Water flows freely, moving across land, nurturing the environment, while viruses quickly become global in their destructive reach. Symbolising the freedom to express and celebrate their cultural heritage, the dancers explore how borders, both open and closed, have affected their lives.

Like water we rise and flow and are part of the larger creative community. We have embraced the opportunity to be involved in this project.

Dancers

Ai Fang Wang

Yu Duo Jun Tang

Yu Juan Bai

Sophie Shen S.Ping

Chinese Dance Hub Geraldton, SHUI ZIYOU / Water without Borders, 2022, dance performance, digital print on archival cotton rag, 162.5 x 162.5cm.

Photos by Shawn Chen

NED CROSSLEY

BORN

Katanning, Western Australia

LIVES

Williams,

The careful shaping and placement of the remains of trees in this installation comes from the artist’s consideration of his place in the environment and a deep respect for people who have lived here before him. Crossley is motivated by a desire to understand Aboriginal ideas of boodja and connection to country. He says he hopes that his work might awaken in others the possibility of deeper connection and greater empathy with Country.

Fence(d) is a cohort of the remains of trees, ruthlessly cleared to make fire breaks around my residence, piled up and burned expeditiously and expediently. However, I rescued some of the pieces from the fires and using traditional tools of fire and stone that the Old People might have used to fashion tools for hunting and gathering, I set to shaping and arranging the remnants into ornamental assemblages as a memorial to the casualties of my brutal action.

Wheatbelt Region

Ned Crossley, Fence(d) (detail), 2022, salvaged saplings, 150 x 240 cm. Photo by Sharon Baker

redocredreaming.com.au

The cross-cultural collaboration by these two artists has developed through a mutual personal regard as well as a respect for Aboriginal culture and the land. The artists met while studying art at Narrogin TAFE in 2010. They have worked together on several mural projects before collaborating on this painting. Crossley paints in oils and acrylics and makes installations. Storey paints in acrylics, often incorporating ochre pigments. He has been influenced by Albert Namatjira, the Carrolup artists, Dick Roughsey/Percy Tresize and Ainsley Roberts.

NED CROSSLEY and ROSS STOREY BORN

‘Go bush’ to be free to be who and what you are and escape the confining ignorance and injustice of the world. Old people were nourished by the energy in and around special places, they’d say “Wirrn dabbarkarning nitja” (Spirit people around here) or ‘Wirrnidtj’ (Spirit here). Meeting our obligation - honouring the Old People, connecting to and healing country in these places - liberates us and energises our own spirit.

Wagin, Western Australia LIVES

LANGUAGE GROUP

Narrogin, Wheatbelt Region

Wiilman (Ross Storey)

Ned Crossley and Ross Storey, The Obligation – Nidja wirrnitj (diptych), 2023, acrylic on board, 127 x 120 cm. Photo by Daniel Rooney

MELISSA DRUMMOND

BORN

Melbourne, Victoria

LIVES

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Goldfields-Esperance Region

Melissa Drummond is a Kalgoorlie-based documentary photographer and artist, with a background in earth science, working at the intersection of mining and the natural world. Her artistic practice often involves seeking out quiet, abandoned and degraded environments, recording the influence and impact of human activity. These photographs depict the brewing of a violent storm (representing the impact of climate change), and building remnants found in the locale of Williamstown, which is steadily being encroached by the Super Pit. The images capture the attrition of borders, both universal and local.

melissadrummond.com.au @meldrummo

Throughout the Open Borders project there’s been opportunities to explore the ideas of erosion and borders in greater depth. It has posed challenges and questions. How are the concepts connected, and how do we portray them in meaningful ways? For me, it led to the prevailing thought that – while not to ignore the obvious – borders and erosion are intrinsically linked to destruction and displacement, particularly when it comes to our sense of self and place.

Melissa Drummond, Erosion, 2022, inkjet print on archival paper, diptych, 74 x 104 cm each

elizabethedmonds.com @elizabeth.j.edmonds

In Flagged, Dr Elizabeth Edmonds references one of the basic tools for marking and dividing the landscape –flagging or surveyor’s tape. Edmonds is passionate about the peatlands and paperbark woodlands of the Walpole wilderness area. As an artist and paleoecologist, Edmonds work explores Australian landscapes at different spatial and temporal scales: their history, layers and depths. Trained to use small bits of information to piece together a bigger picture, her works depict expansive wild spaces in their broadest and simplest tones as well as detailed drawn subjects.

Flagging tape is frequently used in the natural landscape to identify, navigate, communicate, reserve and plan. Flagging tape can also represent conflicting choices. Sometimes trees are marked for protection, others are earmarked for roadside clearing or as a fire boundary, identification as something special nearby, for many reasons.

Walpole, South West Region

Elizabeth Edmonds, Flagged, 2022, ink on rice paper with pigment and wax on board, 114 x 46 cm

SEB ESSERS

BORN

Perth, Western Australia

LIVES

Carnamah, Wheatbelt Region

Seb Essers is a school student from Carnamah whose engaging ‘robot’ expresses the angst of being trapped within his own programming. Essers has used his own face as the screen visage, and the robotic dialogue calls for interaction with people and freedom from his machine. As Artificial Intelligence becomes a growing force, this work brings a sense of humanity to the world of technology and machines. With an interest in computers, Essers worked with his father to create the robot structure.

This is Bob. His dream is to be able to observe how humans behave online, but his creator fears he may take a disliking to these people. So to prevent the robot from interacting with the internet he has removed the ability to connect with devices that aren’t pre-installed. Don’t break it or I’ll be pissed.

Sebastian Essers, Bob (detail), 2022, interactive sculpture, 165 x 65 cm.

Photo by Andrew Bowman-Bright

The humble stick is, in a way, emblematic of borders. It can be used to draw a line in the sand, it can be laid to create an edge and it can form a fence. Using driftwood and found rope, Gabriele Gehlhaar has created a tower which can become a ladder or a bridge across borders. In her own art practice Gehlhaar chooses to not be confined by any particular media, constantly working across different materials and disciplines. She is interested in the process of entering a dialogue and finding connections and is open to the surprise and possibilities of each new project.

On my morning beach walks, in the unrestricted space of land and sea and sky, I found the driftwood sticks, uprooted from the dunes and washed away from, and back to, the beach. This material with its own story became my starting point.

The empty spaces in the growing tower happened naturally as I tied the sticks together with the yellow rope of a discarded fishing net and these empty spaces are my open borders.

Gabriele Gehlhaar, Hope on fragile ground (detail), 2022, driftwood, fishing net rope, 450 x 80 x 80 cm

NIKKI GREEN

BORN

Sydney, New South Wales

LIVES

Denmark, Great Southern Region

The majestic Koi Kyeunu-ruff (The Stirling Range) forms a strong physical border running for 100 kms through the ancient landscape of the Great Southern. Human intervention has resulted in more borders delineating farms and roads. Nikki Green’s awareness of the vulnerability of the environment underpins her art practice and she seeks to express the grounding spirit of the land in her work. By combining traditional and contemporary printmaking processes, Green has invested her work with layers of meaning.

nikkigreen.com.au @nikkigreenart

Framing the frameless, the ancient undulations of Koi Kyeunu-ruff (The Stirling Range) are a constant ghost-like feature throughout this work. Photographically stitched in Photoshop the range is set within a series of polygon shaped hand printed lino blocks. Inspired by Brutalist architecture, this startling backdrop of concrete-like enfolding spaces form a warped sense of perspective, symbolising our human stamp on our more-than-human-world, perpetuating the message of our footprint on what once was without borders.

Nikki Green, Koi Kyeunu-ruff: A Brutal Perspective on an Ancient Range, 2022, digital print on wallpaper, 90 x 300 cm

@jodiegroves_studio

The new rules and restrictions which were implemented to manage the COVID-19 pandemic generated, for many, a sense of nostalgia for how things used to be. The closure of borders and the cessation of travel led Jodie Groves to remember her own previous travels. Her art practice is inspired by the alchemy of working with a range of materials, including encaustic and textiles, and embracing the process of transformation. In this installation, the results are progressively changing, as each participant selects a coloured yarn to create a line of thread to trace their own travels.

Travel was a distant notion during 2020/2021 with countries around the world closing their borders to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Months of lockdown threw our travel plans into chaos, our only solace, to recall memories of travels past.

This installation is designed to produce a rich tapestry of travel recollections. Symbolised by the coloured line, participants connect with countries they have visited, reminiscing of travels undertaken and initiating conversations of shared experiences.

Perth, Western Australia

Geraldton, Mid West Region

Jodie Groves, Journey of Reminiscence (detail), 2022, interactive wall installation, wool thread, international place names, suitcase, wall screws, 210 x 360 cm

SHAYNE HADLEY

BORN

Cairns, Queensland

LIVES

Margaret River, South West Region

In making this painting, Shayne Hadley set his own borders. He worked within particular parameters which determined how he applied the thick paint in horizontal and vertical strokes. Embracing the chance that comes with this process, Hadley immersed himself in the act of creation. He is interested in how action changes our perception of space and works with a nostalgia for landscapes that have changed. Born in the rainforests of northern Queensland, he grew up in the swamps and coastal regions of northern Perth. He has lived in the south-west since the late 1990s.

To create is firstly to choose one’s captivation. To make a boundary within the infinity of nothingness. A captivation that one hopes will provide the freedom of a direction through the recognition of possible realities.

Shayne Hadley, Once upon a time, 2022, oil on panels, 222 x 120 cm. Photo by Chris Young

arthut360.com.au

Living on a remote coastal farm near Manypeaks in the Great Southern, Catherine Higham is used to driving long distances. She perceives the road itself as a border: asphalt creating lines in the landscape. In early 2020 her partner had a catastrophic work accident. During a period when regional borders were closed, Higham frequently drove the near-empty roads, crossing the checkpoint at each border, to visit her partner in hospital in Perth. Higham has drawn on this time of immense personal uncertainty as well as global uncertainty to imagine a changed social

CATHERINE HIGHAM

order, in which nature could reassert itself. In her art practice, Higham explores what it is to be human, within living systems that converge.

Roads between our home at Manypeaks to Fiona Stanley Hospital define a 500km border separating natural and man made: mainly forest and farms, either side of asphalt. During COVID-19 lockdown, road trips to hospital were eerily quiet. There was hardly any traffic, and an absence of car wrecks and dead animals.

Animals bones have been collected from the farm and the side of the road to suggest an eye chart, fit for the third millennium.

Campbelltown, Tasmania

Manypeaks, Great Southern Region

BORN

Catherine Higham, Unseen Assembly, 2022, site-based installation view, digital media on aluminium plate, 120 x 50 cm

PETER HILL BORN

Manjimup, Western Australia

LIVES

Northcliffe, South West Region

The environment of the Meerup/Northcliffe region has fuelled Peter Hill’s art making over many years. In this work, Hill penetrates through the barriers of societal stereotype by exploring the subjectivity of the values assigned to land and nature, compared to the monetary wealth held by a bank. He perceives layers of paradoxes: the trees are burnt, yet they still hold abundant life; the forest represents a bank of trees, but their monetary value is low. The usual impenetrable edifice of the bank is undermined by the spaciousness with which Hill has painted it.

peterhillartist.com

Same place, same time is an evocative artwork that steps in and out of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Hoping to conjure a response from the viewer regarding our connection to, and care for, country. It does this by combining the long-standing pattern of fire in the landscape with a piece of fortress architecture, a colonial era bank.

Peter Hill, Same place, same time, 2022, oil on burnt plywood, 150 x 120 cm. Photo by Sharon Baker

Vulnerability in Conversation

The Global Health Pandemic highlighted tangible and intangible borders.

Borders are used to keep things in and to keep things out.

They can be protective, and they can be prohibitive.

Let’s look beyond the experience of the pandemic.

Borders are not always visible, and we all have borders in our own lives.

Borders can be based on culture, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, neighbourhood, ability, family, history, politics.

What border have you experienced in your own life and how has it affected who you are?

Listen to the Conversation here.

12 minute audio

@lyndahlou_art

When regional borders were implemented in Western Australia, Lynda Horn’s hometown of Esperance went a step further and enforced a border around the town. Reflecting on this, Horn acknowledged that everyone must navigate borders of some kind and she sought to explore this further. Horn has drawn on her background in museums to create an audio work that captures people’s experiences at a very personal level. She interviewed 22 people and asked them “What border have you experienced in your own life and how has it affected who you are?”.

For Horn, making art gives her permission to delve into the creative process.

The recent Global Health Pandemic highlighted a worldwide barrier that we have all had to overcome. How often have you stopped to reflect on where you are at, what you have overcome, big or small, and how you are going?

A small moment, an expression, the movement in the eyes, the faraway look as someone delves into their thoughts. My artwork uses our voice as a medium to see the insight to human emotion, inner feelings and thoughts. At the core, this all leads back to Mental Health - the message is simple “Look after your mental health, Australia”.

Lynda Horn, Vulnerability in Conversation, 2022, exhibition didactic accompanying audio file

EMMALINE JAMES

BORN

Perth, Western Australia

LIVES

Geraldton, Mid-West Region

Emmaline James is interested in opening up the possibilities of how we understand and exist in society through re-considering the connection between relationship, place and memory. Inspired by the teachings of Homi K. Bhabha, James invites the viewer to challenge the perceived reality of the world and to open up the borders around their thinking. In her painting and sculpture practice she uses colour and recycled materials to create her vision.

emmalinejames.com.au

@em.james.art

For Open Borders I considered my experience working on Yamaji country being mindful of Homi K. Bhabha’s Third Space. Bhabha’s theory acts as an “Open Border”, a meeting place of colonial and post-colonial, cross-cultural encounters where knowledge, values and traditions are safely shared. Post-COVID-19, where many people appear more disconnected and fearful, I suggest the benefit of embracing the hybrid space as a means of reinvigorating meaning and fostering a real sense of connection.

Emmaline James, United (On Our Way to Being), 2022, site-based view, acrylic on plywood, digital photograph, 120 x 120 cm. Photo by Ralf Mulks

waringarriarts.com.au

Senior artist Lily Karadada is recognised as one of the major artists of the Kimberley region. She specialises in representations of the Wandjina, full of subtle tonal variations. Sometimes the Wandjina is shown emerging from a veil of dots (rain) which also inundate the body. A dotted ground is also characteristic of her depictions of totemic species and the natural features of her country. Karadada has had a long involvement with Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, in keeping with the meaning of ‘waringarri’ which is ‘many people together’.

LILY MINDINDIL KARADADA

Lily was born in the bush in her father’s Country around Prince Regent River. Both parents were leading a traditional existence. Lily’s bush name Mindindil means “bubbles” after a spring her father saw shortly after she was born. When she became an adolescent her mother moved her and her brother to the Mitchell Plateau area. There Lily met and married Jack Karadada. Lily and Jack left the bush and went to live at Kalumburu Mission during the Second World War where she worked on the mission planting mango trees.

Wunambal

Woomban-goo-wan-gorr, Prince Regent River

Kimberley Region

Lily Mindindil Karadada, Wandjina, 2002, etching, 27.5 x 19 cm. Courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts.

Photo by Tim Lanzon

MARCIA LEONARD

The uncertainty in the early months of the pandemic inspired Marcia Leonard to look beyond borders and restrictions to find points of connection between individuals and communities. Stories connect people and cultures across the world, as does the night sky. In her art practice Leonard explores the reimagining of sites, landscapes, and objects, viewing them as narratives and symbols of place, self, transformation and renewal. She works with a range of media including, drawing, painting, photography and digital art.

The Pleiades constellation, the Seven Sisters, holds cultural significance across different societies, including several Aboriginal Australian peoples. Intrigued by the pervasiveness of this story and its ties to the ocean, I portrayed the Pleiades through lumen photography using the Hakea Laurina, known as kodjet or kojet in the Noongar language. As someone with a Greek background, the Pleiades’ narrative resonates personally, reminding me of the interconnectedness of human experiences that go beyond physical and cultural boundaries.

Cobar, New South Wales LIVES

Esperance, Goldfields-Esperance Region

From top left to bottom right: Marcia Leonard, Alcyone, Asterope, Maia and Taygeta, Electra, Merope, Celaeno, 2023, digital print on brushed aluminium, 60 x 60 cm each

louiselodge.com.au

@southernwildernessart

Louise Lodge took part in the Ravensthorpe exhibition which explored the idea of remoteness as a barrier. Although she lives in an area which is considered physically remote, Lodge pointed out that she is not remote from what inspires her - the flora, fauna, landforms, ocean and rivers of the Fitzgerald Biosphere. She accepts that, with her proximity to nature, comes her vulnerability to its destructive forces. Connecting to ideas of emotional and physical borders, Lodge’s artwork describes her sense of grief at the loss of her home, studio and surrounding bushland to fire.

My work is an expression of a wildfire disaster which destroyed my home/studio in February 2022. I represented myself in the form of a melted plastic silhouette to convey the surreal feeling which overwhelmed me while watching the fire burn through my bushland. Remnants of some favourite possessions, collected after the fire, have their own narratives as well. Finding the burnt watercolour set, and other precious items gave me comfort in a strange way.

Morawa, Western Australia

Hopetoun, Goldfields-Esperance Region

Left to right Louise Lodge, Acrylic paint tubes, 2022, 17 x 12 x 13 cm. Black Reels, 2022, 25 x 23 x 7 cm. Photos by Dene Bingham. Fire Knows No Borders, 2022, acrylic on canvas, mixed media, 91 x 61 x 13 cm. Photo by Sharon Baker

ELISA MARKES-YOUNG

Elisa Markes-Young delves into her memories and cultural background to create works tinged with nostalgia. Her ‘cultural melancholia’ has mixed emotions – sadness at what has been lost, but happiness about having had the experience. In Thinking of Blue Almonds Markes-Young plays with the idea that thoughts are free and cannot be contained, no matter what borders are imposed. The scraps of fabric reflect memories: none are complete and so much is missing.

zebra-factory.com/emy

@zebrafactory

‘Thinking of blue almonds’ is the translation of a Polish phrase describing daydreaming. The Polish word for ‘blue’ derives from the word for the sky or heaven. ‘Blue almonds’ are a fantasy.

The ‘heavenly’ colour blue itself is a mystery. It’s the colour that retreats from us most; the colour of distance; of there seen from here; of where you’re not. The colour of desire, the sublime forever out of reach.

Elisa Markes-Young, Thinking of Blue Almonds (detail), 2023, hand embroidery, appliqué, sequins and bugles on tulle, 1000 x 270 cm (approx).

Photo by Chris Young

Our relationship to the environment is at the core of Janine McCrum’s arts practice. In the context of borders, McCrum points out that borders can’t be erected to protect the environment from the effects of climate change or from the airborne canker debilitating the Marri forests. At ground level, the soil surface is not a sufficient barrier to prevent land clearing from disturbing the mycelium that underpins a healthy ecosystem. McCrum combines textiles, printmaking, photography and installation in her varied art practice.

In memoriam is part of a body of work examining the plight of Marri trees in their struggle for survival against the dual torments of canker and increasing drought. As Marri trees die from canker, millennial relationships are lost between the trees and the creatures dependent upon them. The coiled chalice and hanging cloth, both stained with Marri blood reference the act of sacrifice, and blood spilt, as humanity dawdles on climate action.

JANINE MCCRUM

BORN Middle Swan, Western Australia

LIVES

Denmark, Great Southern Region

Janine McCrum, In memoriam (detail), 2022, Eco-dyed silk, stained with Marri blood, textile: 200 x 115 cm; vessel: 10 x 10 cm

JEN MITCHELL

BORN

California, USA

LIVES

Denmark, Great Southern Region

The closure of international borders during the pandemic significantly impacted many people, including the 32 percent of the State’s population born overseas. As an expat American, Mitchell was interested in exploring the duality of human experience during this period. Mitchell divided her large canvas into 700 squares - 697 of which represent each day the WA border remained closed. She acknowledges that the closed border meant many different things, to different people, at different times. While for some it meant safety, opportunity and community, it also meant loss, isolation and severance.

jenmitchellart.com

I grew up on a small island in Northwest USA, and have lived in Western Australia since 2006. Before COVID-19, the ubiquitous image of an airplane window was an essential part of my life as someone who has made my ‘home’ away from my place of birth.

My exploration of ‘open borders’ is an invitation to reflect on the way in which we construct our ‘homes’ together in times of global change.

Jen Mitchell, Grounded, 2022, acrylic on linen, 380 x 220 cm. Photo by Bo Wong

@katealida thefarmmargaretriver.com.au

Kate Alida Mullen is interested in the subtle, layered histories of places. Through her multidisciplinary art practice and work as a curator and writer, Mullen investigates, and listens for the seen and unseen stories. In her work The Snake Way Home, Mullen applies this approach by collecting and creating artifacts of her own meandering experience during 2020 – 2022.

KATE ALIDA MULLEN

The Snake Way Home maps Kate Alida Mullen’s experience caught on the eastern side of the country when Western Australia’s border restrictions were imposed in March 2020. What followed was an unexpected two-year ‘drift’ traversing many nations – all made in an effort to dodge indefinite lockdowns and, ultimately, get back home. Here, Mullen retraces something of the living imprints of each of the landscapes she took refuge in over this historical passage in time.

Perth, Western Australia

Kate Alida Mullen, The Snake Way Home Left to right: detail and installation view, 2022-23, bronze, ceramic, hand-dyed bamboo thread and natural pigments on canvas drop sheet, 275 x 212 cm. Photo by Chris Young

JENNY MUTTER

BORN

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

LIVES

Three Springs, Wheatbelt Region

The North Midlands agricultural area has undergone major change as farms de-stock and focus solely on crops. As farms amalgamate and machinery increases in size, more and more fences are pulled out to allow for the increased scale of operation. Borders are being removed. Jenny Mutter has used the remnants of an old fence in her consideration of the numerous changes in agriculture and its impact on farming communities. Mutter is inspired by her community and her surroundings of wide-open spaces and ever-changing sunrises and sunsets.

Personal boundaries are like fences. How well they are set determines how much people respect them. The lack of boundaries sends a “free for all” message. Everyone will walk through as they wish.

Jenny Mutter, Think Boundaries, Imagine Fences, 2022, wire and wood, 40 x 115 x 56 cm.

Photo by Andrew Bowman-Bright

The Narrogin exhibition’s theme was “Between Confinement and Liberation” and artists explored the arbitrary borders that are created to maintain order. In her work, Kelly Nelissen was more interested in finding points of connection rather than division and looked to the night sky for that shared experience. Nelissen works across a range of media in her sculptural practice, including textiles, glass, metal and wood, and often works with recycled materials.

I really wanted to inject hopefulness in my work by portraying the concept that we live under the same sky and when we look up at the stars at night, we can imagine being connected through a shared experience. The copper map on the telephone is of Narrogin, where I live. The stars are constellations of what I would have seen in the sky during our first national lockdown (March 2020).

Armadale, Western Australia

Narrogin, Wheatbelt Region

Kelly Nelissen, Under the Milky Way (detail), 2023, mixed media including copper wire, silk and found objects, 200 x 180 cm

PHYLLIS BINJLAK NINGARMARA

BORN

Ivanhoe Station, Western Australia

LIVES

Kununurra, Kimberley Region

LANGUAGE GROUP

Miriwoong

Phyllis Ningarmara’s imagery interprets Country through a kaleidoscope of colour. Her palette of bright ochres capture a country sometimes flooding with wet season rains, sometimes as expanses of stony riverbed. Creeks, rivers and freshwater springs overflow and criss-cross across the country, creating a rich patchwork.

waringarriarts.com.au

Phyllis was born on Ivanhoe Station and raised on Kimberley cattle stations where her parents worked. She began painting late in life, reinterpreting the cultural lessons of her childhood taught by her father. Phyllis was a highly respected senior Miriwoong woman and cultural leader.

Phyllis Binjalk Ningarmara, Wooreewoorrem - Wet Season, 2010, natural pigment on canvas, 125 x 130 cm. Courtesy of Waringarri Aboriginal Arts. Photo by Tim Lanzon

mariannepenberthy.com

Marianne Penberthy’s art practice is seated in a deep consideration of her relationship with this land, its history and the possibilities for collective change. A textile artist for more than thirty years, Penberthy creates her work through slow, meditative processes which honour the materials and what they represent.

Twining string from old work clothes, imbued with memory, dust and personal history and worn across Western Australian building and mine sites, was a slow and contemplative process. It is a deeply felt experience of sensing these materials and their stories. Wrapped around survey pegs, like builder’s string lines, ancient tools for creating straight lines between two points, the works talk to land and personal boundaries, ownership, and the recent collective history of colonisation.

Marianne Penberthy, Stringlines (detail), 2022, twining string repurposed from old work clothes, survey pegs, dimensions variable

MARIANNE PENBERTHY

BORN Brisbane, Queensland LIVES Geraldton, Mid West Region

LORI PENSINI

BORN

Narrogin, Western Australia

LIVES

Boyup Brook, South West Region

The psychological borders that can develop during one’s lifetime have inspired several artists. In this work, Lori Pensini expresses her sense of inadequacy as a child which was fostered through her sheltered upbringing. In remembering this feeling, Pensini draws parallels to her own efforts to protect her family during the pandemic. In her art practice, Pensini explores her identity within her family’s long and multifaceted history of connection to the Australian landscape.

loripensini.com

Chrysalis is a metaphoric interpretation of my ‘becoming’, the transformation of acceptance and emergence of greater internal strengths in the aftermath of the pandemic. Set in the bush, the simulated ‘cocooning’ armours my matriarchal response to the uncertainty and apprehension at not being able to keep my family safe and buffers the noise of inner self conflict about ‘being enough’

Lori Pensini, Chrysalis, 2022, oil on linen and wood installation, dimensions variable

helenseiver.com

Helen Seiver takes a natural border, a river, as a motif for her investigation of the psychological and cultural borders. In her practice she explores personal narrative through sculpture, painting and installation. As with many of her artworks, this piece incorporates recycled materials with a time-consuming and repetitive process. Through her slow meditative stitching, Seiver has brought the threads of two personal stories together.

This work uses the shape of the Nullagine River to reference the framing/creation of psychological boundaries of making art within personal context. Through intentional processes this work attempts to untangle and re-weave the story by darning, repairing, making whole, healing and cleansing.

The result is red river; it’s a border, one side darkness and the other of light. A place to return to year after year to do the work, to heal and forgive.

BORN

Perth, Western Australia

Stirling Estate, South West Region

Helen Seiver, The Nullagine River, 2023, found blanket, assorted threads, 190 x 170 cm. Courtesy of Janet Holmes à Court Collection.

Photo by Chris Young

JUDITH STEWART

BORN

Southern Cross, Western Australia

LIVES

Buniche via Lake Grace, Wheatbelt Region

In her painting Judith Stewart celebrates her farm ‘Craignish’, where she has lived since 1960. Located 50km from the nearest town, Lake Grace, its remoteness creates its own kind of border of protection. The farm itself contains borders of fence lines, gates and roads, as well as natural barriers such as breakaways and lakes, which are a sanctuary for migratory birds from Russia. Stewart is inspired by her environment and her artworks convey her keen observation of seasonal change.

Our four children left home to continue secondary and University education, returning for holidays to enjoy family peace, space and security of living remotely at ‘Craignish’ without external intrusions.

‘Refuge at Craignish’ depicts our farmland, rocky outcrops and our favourite salt lake, all providing a refuge to relax and regain confidence to face the demands of living in a competitive world. The turbulent sky reflects the uncertainty in the outside world threatening our peaceful refuge.

Judith Stewart, Refuge at Craignish, 2022, oil on canvas, 121 x 92 cm. Courtesy of Tania Spencer. Photo by Sharon Baker

Louise Tasker takes us to the shifting border of the shoreline in her works in which she explores ideas of adaptation to rising sea levels, and ideas of interior and exterior. There are two facets to Tasker’s jewellery practice – the casting and fabrication of recycled materials and the use of natural found objects. In this work, she has cast shells and barnacles in her questioning of how to deal with change at the shoreline. Tasker seeks an alchemy between material, process and meaning in her art.

What if the shifting threshold, that is the shoreline, shifts faster than the organisms that call it home can adapt? What exterior structures can be provided to aid survival? At what point would such interventions result in the natural becoming an artifact, replaced by the man-made? Casts from the interior of shells, the ‘skins’ of a living creature - its shell now eaten away by acidic waters, bear the scars of navigating climate change.

Louise Tasker, Navigating the Change, 2022, six brooch forms, silver, driftwood, barnacles, resin, nine carat gold and nickel steel, dimensions variable

CAT TINK BORN

LIVES

Passionate about the role of the arts within communities, Cat Tink mentors children and adults through her work as an art teacher and contributes to the work of ‘Raveaboutarts’, the local Ravensthorpe arts organisation. Her work ALWAYS BORDERS OPEN SEASON is an engaging comment on the freedom of feral animals to invade all regions, even remote areas where she lives.

@catt.countryart

This piece highlights the lack of borders feral animals - namely the Red Fox - have in Australia. The car door is a metaphor - they have been given the keys to go where they wish. Placing trail cameras to collect data in a nearby pristine stand of 30 Salmon Gums, I observed the fox’s prevalence but also developed a huge appreciation for our wildlife’s ability to survive, including the vulnerable Western Quoll

Kiama, New South Wales

Ravensthorpe, Goldfields-Esperance Region

Cat Tink, OPEN BORDERS OPEN SEASON (detail), 2022, metal sculpture - car door with acrylic window and LED light strip, 126 x 106 x 16 cm.

Photo by Sharon Baker

moniquetippett.com

@moniquetippettartist

For Monique Tippett, the concept of open and closed borders is extremely pertinent to the activities of mining, logging and industry in the Southwest forests. Through her wooden, sculptural and wall-based artworks, Tippett aims to raise awareness of the urgent need to protect our forests and to inspire a deeper appreciation for the natural world.

MONIQUE TIPPETT

The tryptic work “Borders” references the fluorescent tape that is scattered throughout the forests of the Southwest, used by loggers, mining and industry. They are way finders, as well as markers for destruction and salvation. The bright lines of colour across the natural timber surface also reference the way we carve up the natural world with our plans and maps.

Perth, Western Australia

LIVES

Dwellingup, Peel Region

BORN

Monique Tippett, Borders 1 - 3, 2022, solid jarrah and aluminium, 83 x 45 cm each. Borders 2 courtesy of Emily McGuire

SARA WALKER

BORN

Perth, Western Australia

LIVES

Geraldton, Mid West Region

Sara Walker’s installation that we are ruined by the thing we kill is a metaphor for the struggle between modern land usage and the environment. The work takes its title from the final line of Judith Wright’s poem Australia 1970 in which Wright advocates for nature to fight back against industrialisation. Along with text from Wright’s poem, the work features a burnt tree trunk, and Walker’s own clothing, marked with charcoal through the effort of moving the trunk. In placing her stained clothing in the installation, Walker places herself in this ongoing conflict. In her practice Walker often uses found objects to explore the unexpected relationships and tensions that emerge from living in the ancient landscape of the Mid West.

Like Judith Wright’s unforgiving poem, ‘Australia 1970’, the work regards the selfdestructive struggle between the continent’s natural world and its European occupants. Taken from the site of a Geraldton bushfire, the trunk bears the scuffs and scratches of its removal and transport. Mirroring this, each physical encounter between artist and trunk stained the artist’s clothing with charcoal. Together, these elements present the ways in which we are marked by struggle, what we lose of ourselves, and what we gain of the Other.

Sara Walker, that we are ruined by the thing we kill, 2022, left: site-based view right: installation view, wooden tree trunk, photographic images and fabric, 200 x 200 cm (approx).

lyndallwatson.com

@look_mum_look

An artist and secondary school art teacher, Lyndall Watson drives considerable distances to work from her home near Walpole. Observing the ubiquitous country road sign declaring ‘soft edges’, Watson has cleverly taken this practical warning and twisted it, like the twine in her weaving, to advocate for less rigid thinking and expectations. Watson works in woven textiles, blending digital printing techniques with traditional crafts of weaving, embroidery and quilting.

Soft Edges responds to borders, perceived and real. In teaching, I find imaginary borders are placed on ideas. Content is oversimplified in the pursuit of understanding, yet neat borders are inevitably unravelled by an inquisitive student’s questioning. Rigid thought is dangerous yet it’s what we inadvertently champion in our exams, policy, and society. There is a duty to make these imaginary borders visible, as life exists in soft edges, in the contradictory mess of it all

Geelong, Victoria

Broke, South West Region

Lyndall Watson, Soft Edges, 2022, woven tapestry, digitally printed yarn, embroidery cotton, 50 cm x 42 cm. Photo by Sharon Baker

CREALITY: GASCOYNE

Contours Film by Creality Productions

Theaker von Ziarno, Executive Producer

Janine Oxenham, Artistic Director / Choreographer

Claudia Alessi, Dancer / Choreographer

Anton Felix Blume, Director of Photography

David Anthony Mann, Composer

Uncle Bobby Dorey, Cultural Advisor

Shayne Thompson, Production Assistant

ARTISTS

Theaker von Ziarno

Janine Oxenham

Anton Felix Blume

Abigail Rose

Nature cannot lie.

The elements travel, perpetual, with no borders, only flow. Space has consciousness. If we observe, it tells of shifting paradigms scaled over eons.

To live in remote Western Australia is to be in dialogue with the ancient.

Art is a mechanism to free us from isolation. To release and to receive. Like the valve of the Heart.

Creality’s Open Borders conversed with the Gascoyne’s land, sea and skyscapes.

It’s artists, torn and ever pulled by paradox: From outside forces, we crack, we transform, becoming tensile, or weak. Humbled, small and vast. Held in horizons - distant, close, still, yet perpetual. A complexity of the human condition is that it is shaped by what it does not understand.

We learn from an ability to observe patterns within Nature.

Nature is Wise.

It tells us that nothing can be sustained in isolation. Boundaries imagined and literal at some point must dissolve, must evolve.

Gascoyne artists: Theaker von Ziarno, Janine Oxenham, Anton Felix Blume collaborated with Dave Mann to dance dialogue with land, sea and skyscapes of the Gascoyne in April, May and June 2023.

Anton Felix Blume, 2023, Janine Oxenham and Claudia Alessi on set for Contours film Production

GOLDFIELDS

Ragged Hessian Dolls

Lyrics by MissGenius 2022 for the Open Borders Project.

I close my eyes, I hear you cry, Ragged hessian doll, Take us, sling us, White man tell his son, She nothing but disposable, Shhh, You have taken our mothers, And tossed us aside, Distributed kinship, Learn that we still alive, Brake us, take us, No matter which way you touch, rough, You’ll never shape us, The value of life depends on the colour, Say it’s not true, Then your view comes from the white summit, We just wanna walk free, share the summer, We don’t wanna be taken, just another, I don’t wanna be a number, I cry for our missing, I cry for our grandmothers, I close my eyes, I hear them cry, You say why you mad, Forget the past, Forget that your people get harassed, Forget that our missing women never get a broadcast, Ah hum,

That’s right, you white, you right, you know what it feels like, Just imagine your mother, childlike, missionary telling her to sit tight, be right, be godlike, Then she missing in the night, no one knows what happened to her life, where’s her light? But that’s right, you white, you right, you know what’s better for the tribes, Clap clap, you saintlike, The authorities searching for superiority, Our identities are missing, They’re never worrying, So I close my eyes, I hear them cry, It’s not alright, Can you hear them cry, Can you hear them cry.

Mentor Deb Carmody shares these reflections on the creative development phase with MissGenius:

Our process included face-to-face and phone meetings where we discussed the issue of women going missing, and the impact on family. We’d never been in that space before. MissGenius knew that when she was a baby her Aunty went missing, so she ventured across the border to raise the issue with her mother.

‘Why did our family not talk about it?’.

MissGenius’ family are living in a void of continual loss. There are no more tears; they dried up in their unresolved grief. To express the emotion of when a loved one goes missing, MissGenius breaks through the psychological border and crosses into that space. She raps the paradox of how does one grieve when one is physically absent and psychologically present? Her words speak of identity, loss, anger and pain, as well as survival, empowerment, strength and courage.

As you cross many psychological borders, what is the emotional journey like: do you feel like grabbing some bastard by the throat and screaming, ‘tell me what happened!’; it’s raining, are they safe, is their body being protected from the elements; or are you expecting and hoping that your daughter will walk through the front door. But holding onto hope long term can be physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting; does the loss freeze the grieving process, especially when one is searching for answers, and thus complicates and delays the process of grieving –unresolved grief; no peace; loss that occurs without closure or clear understanding; numb, emotionless, trying to comprehend the reality and fathom the facts; you wish it to be a dream, but this dream never ends; you can’t say, ‘she’s dead, she’s gone, nothing you can do about it, that’s the end of the story’. It can’t be the end because she has two children, the story has to continue somewhere; that blank bit in the story needs to have some sort of meaning as the loss has not been verified; there is a natural human need for meaning, sense, security, knowledge, and finality; but loved ones can’t move forward, they’re frozen in place, living in a void of continual loss; unlike death, there is no proof that allows for any sort of conclusion; no funeral; no script to follow; but you need to hang onto something; what is that something; can you reconcile with that something; and can you find solidarity in your isolation or are you bound within that border of nothingness.

The project’s theme enabled MissGenius to encourage her mother to open up about her missing sister, which allowed us to discuss, develop and refine the creation of the work. MissGenius reflected on the impact of the physical, political, cultural and psychological borders within her family, and her rap crossed the border into film; a modern-day telling of the Seven Sisters story, based on the Creation story Minyma Tjurta.

Open Borders by Goolarri Media

The performance was inspired by the theme Open Borders and was developed by Dancer Tara Gower, who has danced for years with Bangarra Dance Theatre and Gwen Knox. A workshop process was used with the young performers to enable them to participate in the development of the 20 minute work. It became a study of isolation, rejection and commodification of human relationships. Music composed by Gwen Knox performed by Melanie Robinson (pre-recorded).

Images: Dancer Asha Vincent, puppet by Gwen Knox. Rapper Jacob Gregory with puppet.

Photos by Wade Freeman

Melissa Drummond, Erosion (detail), 2022, digital print on archival paper, diptych, 74 x 104 cm each

SELECTED ARTISTS - OPEN BORDERS

Locations within Western Australia indicating community origins of artists selected to exhibit at the John Curtin Gallery.

PORT HEDLAND

Courthouse Gallery

Amelia Blanco

GERALDTON

Geraldton Regional

Art Gallery

Jodie Groves

Emmaline James

Marianne Penberthy

Sara Walker

Chinese Dance Hub

DWELLINGUP

Lost Eden Creative

Ned Crossley

Catherine Higham

Monique Tippett

MARGARET RIVER

Homes à Court Gallery

Shayne Hadley

Elisa Markes-Young

Kate Alida Mullen

Helen Seiver

NORTHCLIFFE

Painted Tree Gallery

Elizabeth Edmonds

Peter Hill

Lori Pensini

Louise Tasker

Lyndall Watson

KUNUNURRA

Waringarri Aboriginal Arts

Agnes Armstrong

Betty Bundamarra

Paddy Carlton

Lily Karadada

Phyllis Ningarmara

CARNAMAH

The Bank Gallery

Andrew Bowman-Bright

Seb Essers

Jenny Mutter

NARROGIN

NEXIS Gallery

Ned Crossley

Ross Storey

Kelly Nelissen

KALGOORLIE

Artgold

Tina Carmody

Melissa Drummond

ESPERANCE

Cannery Arts Centre

Lynda Horn

Marcia Leonard

RAVENSTHORPE

Ravensthorpe Town Hall

Cat Tink

Louise Lodge

Judith Stewart

DENMARK

Butter Factory Studios

Melissa Boughey

Gabriele Gehlhaar

Janine McCrum

Jen Mitchell

Nikki Green

The Open Borders project delves into the constructs of containment experienced within contemporary life across regional Western Australia. More than just a thematic foray, the concept of ‘opening borders’ was incorporated into the project’s development and structure, as a challenge to long-standing hierarchical, patriarchal and metro-centric biases that have dominated gallery practice in the western world for centuries. Led by strong women in all key leadership roles, Open Borders was guided by principles of collaboration and connection, employing a shared design and delivery process that simultaneously unified and celebrated individuality. With presentations spread across diverse venues and organisations in all nine of the State’s regions, each exhibition and/or performance offered unique insight on the central theme, culminating in a comprehensive survey at John Curtin Gallery, distilling these multiple interpretations and perspectives.

Open Borders exists within the container of a broader three-year project called Mycelium Mycelium emerged in 2020 as a response to the destabilising and fragmentary experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project encompassed a range of multi-arts activities that stimulated interconnectivity and supported capacity, resilience and sustainability within the regional arts sector. The project was inspired by mycelium in nature - the network of hidden fungal fibres that interlink plants, animals, microbes and nutrients - as an essential conduit for fertility and flourishing in healthy natural ecosystems. The Mycelium project was initiated by The Creative Grid, the sector development arm of Southern Forest Arts, a small not for profit cultural organisation based in the State’s Southwest. Mycelium included more than 60 arts organisations in a distributed program of networking events, mentorships, creative co-labs, blogs, and online dialogues. Open Borders was the flagship undertaking with the eight regional arts organisations that comprise the Regional Arts Network providing the central scaffold and momentum for project evolution.

CREATIVE MYCELIUM

FIONA SINCLAIR Artistic Director/General Manager Southern Forest Arts

Open Borders represents the second iteration of the Regional Arts Triennial (RAT). The RAT model provides a framework for sector development that is replicable, scalable, and ultimately sustainable. By harnessing the power of individuals and groups working together, the RAT stimulates and sustains Western Australia’s creative and cultural infrastructure. This process facilitates the exchange of valuable resources such as networks, skills, and expertise across one of the world’s most sparsely populated landscapes. While this task is not without its challenges, The Creative Grid’s commitment to collaboration makes it achievable. Through interconnectivity, emerging and established artists, curators, and organisations gain strategic profiling and empowerment, with benefits compounding across subsequent cycles.

In essence, the RAT is a prism through which a central idea can be refracted and communicated across the State. Its power comes from its intrinsic ‘grounded-ness’ in the people and places of the regions. The unique combination of local and state-wide presentations, coupled with deep respect for existing regional creative professionalism, represents a significant investment in the State’s future. The RAT seeds a legacy of enhanced liveability, health, and vibrancy in participating regional towns and cities and enriches cultural prosperity for the State overall.

PARTICIPANTS IN THE OPEN BORDERS EXHIBITION SERIES

OPEN BORDERS: THE 26TH PARALLEL AND BEYOND

Junction Co, Port Hedland

Joo Tan, Curator Mentee

Anna Louise Richardson, Curator Mentor

Artists

Amelia Blanco

Michelle Wellham

Lauren Greatorex

EROSION

Artgold, Boulder

Bobby-Lee Field Curator Mentee

Oksana Walters Curator Mentor

Artists

Em Anders

Debbie Carmody

Tina Carmody

Jason Dimer

Melissa Drummond

Ruth Koedyk

Brenton Meynell

Lesley Nazzari

Mel Taylor

EMERGENCES

Holmes à Court Gallery, Vasse Felix, Margaret River

Christopher Young, Curator

Anita Pettit, Assistant Curator

Artists

Amanda Bell

Elaine Clocherty

Shannon Clohessy

Kylie Deltondo

Francesco Geronazzo

Shayne Hadley

Mick Hart

Danny Jennings

Yu-Hua Lan

Elisa Markes-Young

Katharina Meister

Kate Alida Mullen

Martine Perret

Helen Seiver

OPEN BORDERS: FLUORESCENT YELLOW// ELECTRIC LIME

The Painted Tree Gallery, Northcliffe

Lisa Radomiljac, Curator Mentee

Fiona Sinclair, Curator Mentor

Artists

Marilyn Barrington

Elizabeth Edmonds

Peter Hill

Louise Tasker

Janet Leigh

Lori Pensini

Elmari Steyn

Lyndall Watson

Leanne White

OPEN BORDERS

The Bank, Carnamah

Louise Cole, Curator Mentee

Jenny Mutter, Curator Mentee

Andrew Bowman-Bright, Curator Mentor

Artists

Marcell Billinghurst

Andrew Bowman-Bright

Louise Cole

Anne-Marie Connaughton

Roxy East

Sebastian Essers

James Hallam

Jaylin Kite

Jenny Mutter

Cathy Reed

OPEN BORDERS: (IN) SITE

The Cannery Arts Centre, Esperance

Sarsby Martin, Curator Mentee

Marcia Leonard, Curator Mentor

Artists

Jamie Coyle

Jenelle Griffiths

Allira Henderson

Lynda Horn

Marcia Leonard

Natalie McCarthy

Katie White

REMOTE

Ravensthorpe Town Hall, Ravensthorpe

Raquel Tacey, Curator Mentee

Tania Spencer, Curator Mentor

Artists

Kerrie Argent

Lynnell Belli

Emily Dawn

Karryn Duncan

Joanne Francis

Louise Lodge

Gab Major

Dave Riggs

Jennene Riggs

Jarvis Smallman

Tania Spencer

Judith Stewart

Raquel Tacey

Cat Tink

Hayley Wisewould

OPEN BORDERS

Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Geraldton

Roxanne Grant, Curator Mentee

Marina Baker, Curator Mentor

Artists

Chris Bolton

Steve Davidson

Yu Duo

Charmaine Green

Jodie Groves

Roxanne Hunt

Emmaline James

Ralf Mulks

Marianne Penberthy

Jason Stacey

Tamati Smith

Sara Walker

Aifang Wang

OPEN BORDERS

Butter Factory Studios, Denmark

Peter Usher, Curator Mentee

Paul Moncrieff, Curator Mentor

Laetitia Wilson, Curator Mentor

Artists

Melissa Boughey

Ann Copeman

Nikki Green

Gabriele Gehlhaar

Alison Kershaw

Robyn Lees

Janine McCrum

Jen Mitchell

Helmie Van Melle

Jo Wassell

OPEN BORDERS: ARBORETUM

Lost Eden, Dwellingup

Peter Tippett, Curator Mentee

Monique Tippett, Curator Mentor

Artists

Ned Crossley

Elizabeth Edmonds

Julia Elton-Bott

Donna Fortescue

Catherine Higham

Peter Hill

Christine Gregory

Carly Le Cerf

Nansen Robb

Elmari Steyn

Sally Stoneman

Alex Tandy

Monique Tippett

OPEN BORDERS: CONTOURS FILM

Crealty Productions, Gascoyne

Theaker von Ziarno, aerialist

Janine Oxenham, dancer

Abigail Rose, aerialist

Anton Blume, photographer

Theaker von Ziarno, Executive Producer

Janine Oxenham, Artistic Director/Choreographer

Claudia Alessi, Dancer/Choreographer

Anton Blume, Photographer

Dave Mann, Composer

Shayne Thomson, Production Assistant

Special thanks to Uncle Bobby Dorey

OPEN BORDERS

Waringarri Aboriginal Arts, Kununurra

Dora Griffiths, Curator Mentee

Sharnyall Cox, Curator Mentor

Artists

Agnes Yamboong Armstrong

Daisy Budburriya Bitting

Richard Bloomer

David Brown

Betty Bundamurra

Churchill Yoonay Cann

Paddy Gwambany/Malgbirr Carlton

Ted Yumbun Carlton

Mary Muljay Punchi Clement

Billy Jibilloorn Duncan

Alan Griffiths

Peggy Madij Griffiths

Mignonette Jamin

Ned Johns

Button Jones

Angelina Boona Karadada

Lily Mindindil Karadada

Minnie Lumai

Bessie Malarvie

Kittey Ngyalgarri Malarvie

Judy Mengil

Cecile Calwatt Mengil

Peter Windarrwing Newry

Phyllis Binjalk Ningarmara

Mary Umagarri Teresa Taylor

Billy Gindargunder Thomas

Nathan Thomas

Rover Roba Thomas

Bryan Murielle Wangga

Ben Galmirri Ward

Ronnie Binmi Yundun

OPEN BORDERS: BETWEEN CONFINEMENT AND LIBERATION

NEXIS Gallery, Narrogin

Ned Crossley, Curator Mentee

Casey Thornton, Curator Mentee

Annette Davis, Curator Mentor

Artists

Kerrie Argent

Ned Crossley

Helen Elliott

Marga Felipe

Ian Hislop

Gwyneth Langham

Rennie Langham

Kelly Nelissen

Tania Spencer

Judith Stewart

Ross Storey

Angela Trethewey

PARTICIPANTS IN THE OPEN BORDERS PERFORMANCE SERIES

OPEN BORDERS

Goolarri Media, Broome

Jacob Hamaguchi, Trainee Producer

Gwen Knox, Composer, Puppet maker and Producer Mentor

Tara Gower, Choreographer Mentor

Performers

Tara Gower, dancer

Jacob Gregory, rapper

Melanie Robinson, Cellist

Jackson (Jacko) Ternes, dancer

Asha Vincent, dancer

OPEN BORDERS

Tjuma Pulka, Kalgoorlie/Boulder

MissGenius, Mentee

Debbie Carmody, Mentor

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

PRINCIPAL EXHIBITION PARTNER - REGIONAL EXHIBITIONS TOURING BOOST

EXHIBITION PARTNER

ARTISTS AND CURATORS TRAVEL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ENABLED WITH SUPPORT FROM

MYCELIUM / OPEN BORDERS PROJECT

SUPPORTING PARTNERS

This publication supports the exhibition:

OPEN BORDERS

Regional Arts Triennial

John Curtin Gallery

11 August - 8 October 2023

DIRECTOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge that this exhibition and project would not be possible without the combined efforts of many, many individuals and organisations including: Fiona Sinclair, Southern Forest Arts, and all the regional venues and curators who created and coordinated the regional round of exhibitions and performances, across 2021, 2022 and 2023. Theo Costantino and the Art on the Move Team, who have supported the Exhibition and the Summit through the Regional Exhibitions Touring Boost. The Open Borders Summit Working Group who have organised and staged three days of professional development for the regional artists and curators. The 146 artists, 26 curators, 12 contributors to the performances and all the arts workers, volunteers and supporters associated with the 13 venues right across Western Australia that were involved with the creation and delivery of this project.

John Curtin Gallery, Curtin University, Building 200A, Kent Street, Bentley 6102, Western Australia

+61 (0)8 9266 4155

gallery@curtin.edu.au

www.jcg.curtin.edu.au

@johncurtingallery

Publication Copyright 2023

John Curtin Gallery, unless otherwise stated

Text Copyright

© Jane King

© Lia McKnight

© Annette Davis

© Fiona Sinclair

© Miss Genius

© Deb Carmody

All rights reserved

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. No illustration in this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the copyright owner. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.

All works of art are copyright of the artist. Artwork photographs are by the artist, unless indicated otherwise.

ISBN: 978-0-6450795-6-2

Catalogue Production Coordinator: Lia McKnight

Designer: Sharon Baker

Printing: Advance Press, Bassendean

Lastly, thank you to the amazing and professional team at John Curtin Gallery who have all been involved in some way in bringing this exhibition to fruition. I would like to specifically mention our Curator Lia McKnight; Registrar - Exhibitions

Jacqui Monks and Gallery Production Coordinator David Reid.

Jane King, Director, John Curtin Gallery

OPEN BORDERS SUMMIT WORKING GROUP

Theo Costantino | Art on the Move

Fiona Sinclair | Southern Forest Arts

Gemma Ben-Ary | GalleriesWest

Annette Davis | Independent Curator

David Bowman-Bright | North Midlands Project

Tania Spencer | Lake Grace Regional Artspace

Charlotte Hickson | Art on the Move

Jane King | John Curtin Gallery

GALLERY STAFF

Jane King | Director

Cat Battersby | Gallery Manager

Lia McKnight | Curator

Kathleen Toomath | Carrolup Manager

Barbara Cotter | Collection Manager

Patti Belletty | Gallery Administrative Coordinator

Ron Bradfield Jnr | Community Engagement Program Coordinator

Catherine Peattie | Gallery Education Program Coordinator

Cornah Willis | Gallery Education Program Coordinator

Ari Chavez | Communications and Engagement Coordinator

Brad Coleman | Visual Communications Coordinator

Sharon Baker | Digital Communications Coordinator

Lauren Hancock-Coffey | Gallery Communications Assistant

Jacqui Monks | Registrar - Exhibitions

Mikaela Miller | Collection Officer - Campus Display

Jess Day | Collection Officer

Lisa Liebetrau |Collection Officer - Carrolup

Carlie Germs | Collection Assistant

Tarryn Gill | Gallery Assistant

Mary Peck | Gallery Assistant

Rae Walter | Gallery Assistant

David Reid | Gallery Installation & Production Coordinator

Sean Mitchell, Bjoern Rainer-Adamson, Sebastian Befumo, Jacob Kotzee, Samuel Bruce, Marie Bray | Installation Assistants