THIS IS WHAT I I T H 2018 F A O V R E SHOW TO
Cindy Kavanagh Claire Hashman Gabrielle Freer Gaia Starace Kristen Radge Qiulin Li Rabia Khan Riikka Lintola-Reihana Ruolan Yang Sally Mayman Sindhubharathi Chandrasear Tempe Macgowan Yuheng Fu
This is what I have to show for it An exhibition by UNSW Art & Design, Master of Art students. It is with great pleasure that we present This is what I have to show for it, a group exhibition showcasing the diverse studio-based practices of the students of the Consolidated Studio course, at Gaffa Gallery in Sydney. This course is designed to support the development of practice-based research and provides an opportunity for students to consolidate their practical and conceptual skills through the production of a resolved body of work, in the context of a professional group exhibition experience. The works presented before you engage with notions of time and of dreams; the intensity of emotions experienced through motherhood or the distance between self and home. Some works are concerned with our human impact on the earth, while others capture the trace of mark and of place. Memories of childhood and the influence of cultural upbringing inform others, but for one it is the desire to create a space for contemplation that is the motivating force. These works, though they vary in subject and form, are united in expressing the culmination of months of hard work and dedication and wryly present ‘what they have to show for it’. On behalf of the students I would like to thank the staff at Gaffa Gallery; Richard Crampton from Darkstar Digital, and course convenor Professor Paul Thomas. Most importantly, I would like to congratulate this committed group of emerging artists and commend them for the professionalism with which they conducted themselves throughout this experience. Michelle Cawthorn, sessional lecturer, UNSW Art & Design, Sydney. October, 2018
Cindy Kavanagh All The Good Men cotton, linen, felt textile, embroidery thread, glazed ceramic, wooden dowel
All The Good Men is a blanket for my son, in lieu of a cultural tradition to acknowledge the coming of age. Handwritten messages from the men spanning Banjo’s life are woven together to create a talismanic quilt of wisdom. Imbued with ancestral stories, memories and the advice they would offer their own 13 year old self. All The Good Men is an empirically based ‘Tools For Life’ manual that marks and celebrates the transition from childhood to the self-authority of manhood. ‘Rites of passage’ touch not only the candidate, but also every member of their circle. They foster dialogue, connectivity and understanding. An act of shared communication, saying ‘I make a world’ rather than simply inherit it. Influenced by Boro, the Japanese Folk Textiles handed down over generations, every piece of fabric in All The Good Men has its own history. It was worn by a man, written on by a man and what remains is an energetic imprint of the man. Sashiko, a running stitch technique used in quilting, binds the pieces together, and mini ceramic ‘tools for life’ adorn the blanket, as amulets, symbolic of the three stages of life: creation (what is new) maintenance (what is unchanged) and destruction (what is old or out-dated). With a background in photography and digital media, my recent practice is drawn to the materiality of textiles, ceramics and soft sculpture. My work explores family, belonging, and the individual’s place within the cosmos.
Claire Hashman We’ve Only Got One digital animation
We’ve Only Got One 2018, is an animation exploring humanity’s consumption of Earth’s resources at an unsustainable rate. The science is clear that we are living a four-planet lifestyle (at least), but we’ve only got one. Despite consensus amongst credible scientists, people are still reluctant to act with the urgency that the problem requires. The issue is so immense and confronting that it may be easier for people to ignore than accept. Previously an abstract landscape oil painter, I have more recently explored using other forms of media to communicate sustainability issues with a sense of lightness and humour. My intent is to engage rather than scare or sadden the viewer with the seriousness of the message. We’ve Only Got One uses animation to help simplify the message and provides it in a format enjoyed by most people in the earlier stages of their lives. The large-mouthed pink figure in the animation is the developed world’s hungry Humanity (having the largest per capita impact on climate change) and the blue and green globe, the Earth. The Earth is repeatedly dominated by Humanity’s violent acts which consume and destroy it over and over and over.
Gabrielle Freer Emma pencil and watercolour on paper
I have always drawn people and made figurative work exploring a feminist discourse around the body. My work is focused on drawing, primarily with charcoal, pencils and erasure on paper. I am interested in the multiple possibilities of working with charcoal and pencil and how they can capture a sense of movement and blurred boundaries. In these works, I have drawn dancer and choreographer, Emma Saunders and the lines of drawing catch the continued calibrations of her movements. I have also expanded my drawing process to incorporate watercolour. The trigger for my drawing was a painting by Ferdinand Holder “Youth Admired by Women”(1904), a very early exemplar of the work addressing the ‘female gaze’. The three women in this painting stand in strong dance-like poses, their backs to the viewer and slightly turning their heads to glimpse a young man. I have done many movement classes with Emma and these women made me think of her.
Gaia Starace My Sacred Space sand mix, concrete and oil on canvas
How can we experience the wholeness of the whole? The body, mind and spirit are connected: people and planet coexist in harmony. My Sacred Space represents two different bodies of work entwined. A sculpture and a painting in dichotomy yet interconnected, the creation of overall balance and harmony. Drawing from my classical education in Architecture and my Italian cultural upbringing, I integrate architecture, drawing, painting and sculpture. My current practice directs its techniques, processes and materiality following an experimental methodology. My modus operandi is constantly reassessed to achieve dynamic and powerful outcomes. The sculpture represents our material world with its heavy forms and a circular geometry. The materiality is felt through its archaic construction upon which our gaze is intuitively drawn towards the hollow centre. The spirit that lies beyond is revealed. The immateriality of the abstract oil painting symbolises spiritual meaning by representing the intangible. Merging ancient beliefs and my Roman heritage, the yellow colour incarnates mystery by evoking the centre of the cosmos. My own practice is focussed on creating emotional art through site specific installations. My Sacred Space suggests a physical experience wanting to create a space of contemplation and stillness. The sacredness of the space is felt through the configuration of the small area, the focus point lighting that illuminates the two artworks and their geometrical relationship which is in dialogue with each other.
Kristen Radge Corrode found objects and assemblage
Corrode is a body of work capturing my experience traveling to the outback reaches of far north western New South Wales to Tibooburra and up to the dingo fence line borders of South Australia and Queensland. As a painter concerned with the conflict of urban density and the natural landscape, I have constructed these assemblages of found industrial and organic objects which reflect both their existence and the eroding imprint they leave on the landscape. By presenting this sculptural work on mantel piece shelving, it facilitates in elevating its presence on the environment and the erosion of both natural and industrial over time. The materials collected and used in these works are fencing wire, corrugated iron, bed springs, machinery parts, door fittings, shearing tools, domestic metal pieces, wild cotton seed plants and wood blocks.
Qiulin Li Night is Dark archival pigment on fine art paper
In recent years my work has been about exploring my personal experience and emotion. Just thinking about this, have you ever questioned your dream, wondered why you had a dream like this? You might think your dream is part of your memory but is it really? Your dream is a mystical synthesis that drowns you into itself. Night is Dark 2018 presents the ambiguity and uncertainty of dreams. What is the light in the middle of the dark? What is gushing out of the hole? Something blurred my eyes and what is approaching me? Everyone has their own answer. Inspiration comes from Sydney local artist Ben Ali Ong’s blurry, grainy and dream-like image, Night is Dark has abandoned representation and rendered abstractly. Its composition comes from analogue photographs shot in a prepared set or random encounters. The technique of layering the photographs through digital process created a confusing and thought-provoking visual effect to the audiences.
Rabia Kahn To Be A Women In Pakistan graphite, pen and collage on paper
Cultural shock is the concept of feeling disoriented when a person is subjected to a completely different way of life and practices. I went through this when I moved to Australia to do a postgraduate degree in 2017. My work shows two sides of this experience: one is in trying to keep the customs alive from my home country, Pakistan, and the other is trying to be free and alive in my new home. The concept of To Be A Women in Pakistan is derived from personal experience of wanting to feel free and not abide by the customs and cultures that prevent Pakistani women to be the way they wish to. The role of Pakistani women in the society is to be a housewife; her value is based on how well she raises her children, looks after her spouse and keeps the house clean. I have worked with graphite, pen and colored photo print to achieve the feelings of a person trying to separate herself from her cultural values and norms. As an example, one of my works shows how I just want to be at home and enjoy doing what I do rather than what is expected of me by my traditional cultural values. The point here is not to criticize one society and praise the other, but to shed light on how women rights have been subjugated in Pakistan since 1947 and how it is so integrated that it feels normal.
Riikka Lintola-Reihana Random Order digital images on photographic paper
This project was conceived as metaphor for life — the intersection where my chaotic internal world negotiates the external chaos. It may be beautiful but gets messy. The whole thing is unclear, riddled with misunderstandings. The plan keeps changing, no-one seems to know it. There are so many distractions, and never enough time. We make do with what we’ve got. My own most private feelings and thoughts are complicated and often uncomfortable. Deeply personal, they get in the way of relationships all the same. What to do? I set out to document the minutiae of my daily routines. At algorithm-generated random intervals, the alert would go off day or night. Whatever I was doing, whatever happened to be around, I photographed using the device I always carry, the smartphone that also carried the cloud-synchronised reminders. Rules were simple: respond to the reminder immediately, take one shot, changing or staging nothing. The rules got broken all over the place. I forgot. Was distracted, overwhelmed, fast asleep. In a hurry to do something else. Having too much fun with someone. Left phone somewhere. Didn’t like that one, so took several more. In the end, I have seized control of the metaphor. Of over four hundred images generated so far, this is all I am sharing. Engaging with the outside world on my own terms, I feel a little less alone and a little more at peace. Maybe someone else will, too. Maybe just one other person, and that is enough.
Ruolan Yang Emotions digital print on photo paper
My work explores human emotion. Over this year, I have experienced many different feelings due to the distance between myself and home. For example, I feel worried about how to deal with the relationship with my boyfriend, the wedding of my best friends moved me, my grandparents have suffered a serious disease that scared me. All of these experiences make me curious about different people’s experiences, finally these series of photos could be my new work about identities. I chose the form of participatory art which involves listening to people’s stories and every pair of photos consists of both person and object, while the object is the symbol of every emotion. I will not tell the audience the emotion behind every photo, it is better that audience feels the emotion themselves. The pictures may appear abstract but all of them will be printed and hung on the wall so that the audience can experience these emotions and compare that with their own feelings and experiences.
Sally Mayman Emergence 2.4 minute film projection
Through my practice I continue to explore the emotional, spiritual and physical connections we have with our environment and how these are intimately woven with our sense of belonging. Liminality, a transitional zone where transformations and change take place, trace and time are all fundamental concepts in my work. Seen through the lens of motherhood Emergence is deeply personal, a poignant reflection on change. Capturing my son’s journey through adolescence, his moments of confidence, vulnerability, knowing and unknowing as he seeks his own identity. Gently interwoven and flowing through these images is my own immersive journey of motherhood. The water movements ebb and flow and breath sound scape are metaphors for the cyclic rhythms of nature and a mother’s constancy throughout continual change. The projections of film and photographs onto fabric create an evocative and ethereal narrative, nostalgia and mourning for past connections and acceptance of new. As an artist working predominantly with photography, this layering film projection work further expands my practice.
Sindhubharathi Chandrasekar Illam synthetic tent, cotton fabric, fabric dye, plastic and steel toys
My practice explores themes of nostalgia, feminine ideals, and body image. I develop these themes as a continuum of the explorations and introspections of my life, reacting to society’s norms and traditions. My art is the way I re-establish the bonds that unite me to the universe. In this work, I depart from my habitual drawing and painting practice, to delve into installation, recalling my childhood. My art is the way I reestablish the bonds that tie me to the universe. - Ana Mendieta Illam is a work consisting of a simple tent that conceals a little girl’s play-room. Filled with a plethora of pink toys and possessions, it holds everything joyous that I experienced in my girlhood. I want to transport viewers into my space, to my childhood home in India, recreating it using my own toys and my mother’s saree. As a kid, I picked up everyday things from my home to make cubby-houses, covered them with a saree and sat inside for hours, lost in my make-believe world. The use of toy kitchen items, plush dolls and overall pinkness emphasizes the naïve ideals fed to me under the guise of an idealized femininity. Today, these are no longer simply inanimate objects from memories, they symbolize the happiness associated with being a kid in a loving family.
Tempe Macgowan Never the Same Place colour pencil, collage, conte on trace (detail)
The works comprise of a large-scale collage that describes my experience of Clovelly Beach mainly during the studio period. The work is a reference to Greek philosopher, Heraclitus (born 544 BC) who said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” It is also an attempt, as an artist, to represent nature faithfully through committed observation and intelligence as per 18c English philosopher, John Ruskin’s approach in “That the Truth of Nature was not to be Discerned by the Uneducated Senses”. My art-making is concerned with experimentation and the metonymic features of the urban environment. Through the physical mark making process of drawing I intuitively and intellectually interrogate a place (Peter Sharp). The intention for this work is to immerse viewers in the liminal space between land and sea. To do this I layer, stratify, accrete, tear, make gestural marks with pencil, or collage, paint, oil, rubb, crease, crumple to replicate some semblance of the place. It is comprised of random sized pieces of trace/tissue paper and the media were chosen as an index of the experience. The works are composed randomly and yet follow a walk that I do with my dogs. The work of Australian artist, John Wolseley, influenced the composition and my relationship as an artist with the landscape. His non-humanist approach lets the landscape live and breathe by itself and is true to Ruskin’s ideal. Ruskin, John, David Modern Painters, Vol I: Part II (1843), Barrie, David (edited/abridged), Andre Deutsch, London, 1987.
Yuheng Fu The Way Out graphite on paper
By contesting the division between the realm of memory and the realm of experience, I investigate the dynamics of interior space, including the manipulation of its effects and the limits of spectacle based on our assumptions of what interior space means to us. Rather than presenting a factual reality, an illusion is fabricated to conjure the realms of our imagination. Based on the historical function of Cockatoo island in 1839 (Britain’s largest exile prison), I collected, altered and organized scenes of the island, thematically interrelated material for memory and projection. By exploring the depth of interior space in a nostalgic way, I make work that deals with the documentation of events and the question of how they can be presented. The works seek to express the intersection between past and present, to observe how they mix together. The works establish a link between the interior’s reality and that imagined by its conceiver. My work focusses on concrete questions that determine our existence and prospect the way out through the image I have created. The main materials of my works are graphite on paper, I use drawing as a way to document and communicate with my audience.
Design
Qiulin Li, Gaia Starace
Photography Sally Mayman
Printing
Darkstar Digital
Special thanks
Sessional Lecturer Michelle Cawthorn and Course Convenor Professor Paul Thomas