Co-curated by Beverly Knight (Alcaston Gallery) and Clare Wright (La Trobe University)
Australia / Papua New Guinea
Colonial history can be viewed as a series of frontier encounters based around the extraction of resources. How are the economies of such extraction (social, commercial, creative and political) reflected in art? In this exhibition, the artists will explore both the artistic heritage and contemporary manifestations of the act of ‘digging’ in former and current mining towns. What is found and what is lost in the process of excavation?
Taking mining as a metaphor, the artists (from places as geographically and culturally diverse as Yirrkala, Castlemaine, New Guinea and North Queensland) will explore themes implicit in the act of mineral exploration and exploitation: scarring, layering, excavating, prospecting, exchange, power, custody, resources, home, land, destruction and renewal.
Artists
Chris Barker (Castlemaine, Vic)
Penny Byrne (Melbourne, Vic)
Miriam Charlie (Borroloola, NT)
Gunybi Ganambarr (Yirrkala, NT)
Selby Ginn (Castlemaine, Vic)
Jacky Green (Borroloola, NT)
Taloi Havini (Bougainville, Papua New Guinea)
Naomi Hobson (Coen, Qld)
Judy Holding (Central Victoria, Vic)
Julie McHale (Tasmania & Castlemaine, Vic)
Shirley MacNamara and grandson Nathaniel MacNamara (north-west Qld)
Karen Mills (Darwin, NT)
Yhonnie Scarce (Woomera, SA)
Greg Semu (Sydney, NSW)
Mumu Mike Williams (APY Lands, SA)
Dean Smith (Central Victoria, Vic)
Damien Wright (Melbourne, Vic) and Bonhula Yunupingu (Gunyangara, NT)
The Hermannsburg Watercolourists (Central Australia, NT)
Sponsors & Supporters
Acknowledgments
La Trobe University - Centre for the Study of the Inland
