I PLACE/ DISPLACE
ACE
Place can also invoke a feeling of placelessness. Where national boundaries and cultural attitudes are defined by an Other, marginalised and displaced peoples
Introduction
Sophie McIntyre Curator
experience a sense of physical dislocation and
Place/Displace is the first exhibition to open at the new Queensland College of Art Gallery at -s by select the College. investment of
South Bank. The tide and concept of this exhibition developed in response to the long awaited re-location of QCA Gallery that has now secured its place in Queensland's central cultural precinct.
on man :me public ial gallery or 'rirurional d \·er the be in what they edge. !"ITT 1s proud of
Place/Displace features a selection of mixed media works by eight postgraduate students from QCA. While a number of these artists have exhibited widely and have acquired a national reputation, other artists and their works will be unfamiliar to many. This exhibition endeavours to situate these artists' works within a broader artistic discourse which examines notions of place and
·- - "enue an
·ralian
displacement. Through painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, and new media, these artists traverse a wide terrain, working through physical and metaphysical spaces, mapping their journeys in an attempt to find a sense of place. Place is a country, a landscape, or a domestic dwelling that defines our physical borders and cultural perceptions. It might also be a virtual space to which we retreat; or a memory that lies in the recesses of one's mind. Place is a site with which we identify; it engenders a sense of belonging.
cultural detachment. The destruction of the environment, and the growth in travel and technology, can also bring about a sense of physical disorientation and also cultural and spiritual displacement. Locating themselves within one or more of these spaces, the artists in this exhibition explore and challenge the real and perceived boundaries that define a sense of place. In doing so, their works address a broad range of critical issues which through their sense of place share a common ground. I would like to thank the artists, who were under excreme pressure to create work in a limited timeframe. Their unflagging enthusiasm was indeed a driving force for us all when working on this exhibition. I would als9 like to thank Liveworm Studio, and in particular Joel Booij, who designed this catalogue.
• �
Detail from Alice Springs to Weipa (2000)
Walker ( 1999)
Donna
Brad
,e patterns of
Donna Marcus is a sculpror whose assemblages,
In his wood and cane sculptural installations, Brad Nunn
.I country rown
which comprise of recycled aluminium and plastic
focuses on the body as a site of physical orientation and
ce on this artist
kitchenware, have been shown in numerous
dislocation. As an artist who has personally experienced rhe
faions and
exhibitions around Australia. Marcus' works are
physical effects of injury, Nunn's sculptural works are imbued
Marcus
Nunn
infused with witticism and whimsy as the artist
with a humanistic sensibility and a wry sense of humour.
se locales with
skilfully transforms the everyday into the
Playful irony is a central element in Nunn's work, as the artist
. to explore the
extraordinary. Using anodised pots and pans,
skilfully reconstructs a variety of prosthetic devices to create
steamers, moulds, and other discarded domestic
hybrid, mutant-like forms that transgress the perceived
utensils, Marcus transgresses the boundaries of the
boundaries of the body.
From country
:arar to
liversity of life at :\s the tides of rs and
commonplace as she re-configures these utilitarian objects ro create anthropomorphic creatures or abstract blocks of colour.
In Bull Rider, Walker, and Gripper (1999), the artist features devices that are commonly used by people with disabilities which he modifies to create works that are at once comical
:rested in
In this work entitled Alice Springs to Weipa (2000),
and confronting. In Bull Rider and Walker, for example,
; t:he quaint crafr
Marcus creates a kaleidoscopic landscape of recycled
Nunn re-adapts these devices, including a prosthetic leg
� :1oral
aluminium saucepan lids, colanders, and cake tins, which
that he re-fashions into a blundstone boot with spurs, and
,,.,J Australia.
are colour-coded ro signify places in "outback" Australia.
a quad stick into an alien, twelve-legged periscopic
draw
On an imaginary road trip, the artist drives through the
creature that appears to emerge from the underworld.
�nsiders are
red earth of Alice Springs, stopping off at country towns including Mt. Isa, Cloncurry, and Normanron, to the coast atWeipa.
L.u�.
ch :.mer
In later works, including Clawfish and Hunter (2000), the artist explores the relationship between nature and technology. Inspired by Donna Haraway's book Cyborg
In this work, Marcus pays tribute roWeipa, a rown that has
Manifesto, Nunn enters into a world where social
played an important role in Australia's hisrory of aluminium
reality and science fiction meet, where the organic and
mining. In I 802 the English explorer, Matthew Flinders, in
the machine converge to produce androgynous, "post
his diary described the red cliffs nearWeipa. A century and a
human" bodies that float in space and have no
half later, bauxite was discovered, transformingWeipa and
defined sense of place.
signalling the beginning of the aluminium mining industry in Australia. This sculptural installation is a celebration of these places and their hisrories and of the everyday to which this artist gives new meaning.
.! .�
. \
--��---,-
' ·1:.-
·��
rad Nunn · n and cr:,erienced the -, are imbued • ;::..unour. as the artist ;:o create
rearures
Detail from Still Lives (20001
Culture Cu/It Clan (2001 I
Paula Payne
Janice Peacock
In her paintings, Paula Payne focuses on aspects of
Over the past decade or more, Janice Peacock has been exploring in
history and cultural tradition, which she examines
her arr issues relating to the place and displacement of indigenous
within a modernist discourse. While exploring the
people and their cultures in Australia. As an urban indigenous
processes involved in making art, Payne adopts and
artist from the Torres Strait Islands, Peacock is particularly
subverts the formalist modernist aesthetic to instil
interested in examining the effects of colonialisarion and
into her works a sense of place.
westernisation on her people and culture, and on the way they
While recently travelling through Spain and Portugal,
have been "assimilated" into western society.
the artist visited numerous historical buildings and
In her series of works, tided Culture Cullt Clan (200 I) (sic) and
sacred sires rhar were built by rhe Arabs between the
Between Scenes (2000) the artist re-creates headdresses
11ch and the 15th centuries. Inspired by the geometric
traditionally worn by Torres Strait Islanders to explore the ways
designs in rhe ceramic riles that decorate these
in which indigenous people are exoricised and stereotyped by
buildings, the artist sought to incorporate these Islamic
western society.
motifs into her abstract paintings.
In response to Roger Sandall's highly contentious book tided
This series of works explore the patterns of the past.
The Culturt Cult, Peacock investigates notions of "tribalism"
Collectively titled Still Lives, Payne applies layers of resin
and the way in which the "old" is seen as part of the "new".
and pigment that drip, stain and seep through the cool
By combining traditional and organic forms with man made
white monochromatic surface of these minimalist
objects, including an outboard motor and computer, the
paintings. In doing so, the artist wishes to uncover rhe
artist explores the way in which indigenous cultural
concealed histories and the cultural and spiritual practices
traditions are displaced when displayed as an ethnological
of this region.
object in a museum setting.
Beneath the surface of these quiet, contemplative paintings
In works collectively tided Between Scenes, Peacock re
is a deep sense of longing for the past and for places that
creates the traditional headdress as a contemporary arr
exist in this artist's memory.
form. In doing so, the artist explores the divide that exists between one's sense of self-identity and the identities to which we are expected to conform. In works including
Christine Anu and Me and My Fair Lady and Me, the artist expresses the way in which we, as women, "play out" our lives according to stereotypes, as we attempt to define our place in society.
3:J\fldSIO / 3:l\fld
I