Free survey exhibition featuring new and recent work by 19 contemporary artists and collectives

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, March 29, 2024


Free survey exhibition featuring new and recent work by 19 contemporary artists and collectives
Ryan Presley (Marri Ngarr people, Australia b.1987), Blood Money (detail), 2010-11. Watercolour on paper. Dimensions variable. Image courtesy: Ryan Presley and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.



BRISBANE.- ‘Embodied Knowledge: Queensland Contemporary Art’ encompasses large-scale sculptural installation, photography, painting, video and performance, and includes work by Robert Andrew, James Barth, Janet Burchill & Jennifer McCamley, Megan Cope, Léuli Eshrāghi, Caitlin Franzmann, Heather Marie (Wunjarra) Koowootha, Archie Moore, Callum McGrath, Meuram Murray Island Dance Group, Ethel Murray, Ryan Presley, Obery Sambo, Erika Scott, Vanghoua Anthony Vue, Moilang (Rosie) Ware, Jenny Watson, Warraba Weatherall and Justene Williams.

QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said ‘Embodied Knowledge’ had been co-curated by Ellie Buttrose, Curator, Contemporary Australian Art, and Katina Davidson, Curator, Indigenous Australian Art, to highlight the vitality and diversity of the state’s artistic landscape.

‘Many of the featured works respond to the specific character of Queensland or challenge its accepted narratives and, in doing so, draw attention to aspects of our state’s history that are overlooked or not well enough understood,’ Mr Saines said.

‘This exhibition continues our commitment to the art and artists of this state through a survey that foregrounds female, First Nations and LGBTQIA+ voices. It includes Queenslanders of Indigenous heritage, artists with ancestry from elsewhere in the world who call the state their home, and those born here but now practising elsewhere.’

Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch said ‘Embodied Knowledge’ told important Queensland stories through the eyes of its many artists.

‘The exhibition presents compelling work from Queensland artists across a range of themes and styles, as they explore big ideas and tackle challenging questions about their place in the world,’ Minister Enoch said.

‘It shows a vibrant snapshot of contemporary Queensland art, providing another example of QAGOMA’s leadership supporting Queensland artists to take their practice to the next level.

‘The Queensland Government supports QAGOMA to deliver unique arts and cultural experiences, as we look ahead to the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, when our arts and culture will be showcased on a global stage,' Minister Enoch said.

Among the highlights are The Vertigoats 2021 Justene Williams’s eccentric installation of brightly coloured, elongated mannequins that explores the surreally extended body; The Reservoir of Cruel Miracles 2022, Erika Scott’s towering sculpture of 40 second-hand fish tanks and found objects evoking a mood of suburban horror; Private views and rear visions 2020-22, an epic new painting by Jenny Watson; and Tracing inscriptions 2020/22, a large-scale kinetic installation and durational mural by Robert Andrew.

The tide waits for no one 2020–21, Megan Cope’s installation of cast-glass dugong bones addresses complex social histories tied to the trade and mining exploration of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), while Inert State 2022, Archie Moore’s major commission on the QAG Watermall, calls attention to the mounting number of Indigenous deaths in custody since the 2008 National Apology to the Stolen Generations.

‘Embodied Knowledge’ also includes Ngau Buai 2022, Moilang (Rosie) Ware’s largest textile to date, referring to her family’s migration from the South Sea Islands to the Torres Strait and The struggle of spokes people 2022, Heather Marie (Wunjarra) Koowootha’s compelling portraits of First Nations leaders and social justice advocates.




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