Land. Home. Country. - Griffith Regional Gallery NSW

Land. Home. Country. is Griffith Regional Art Gallery’s community art exhibition and arts and crafts forum for 2017. It is on from 19th October - 19th November. 

The exhibition is grounded in the notion that an understanding of place and the environments an individual inhabits are essential parts of the creative practices of artists and crafts people. Artworks imbued with an understanding of place can convey meaning other creative mediums cannot and can provide the viewer with a transcendent experience. 

In Australian Art, artists from the Heidelberg School, Antipodeans, Annandale imitation Realists and even Brett Whiteley all had an understanding of Land. Home. Country.  

I was absolutely honoured to be a part of Land. Home. Country. in a place that was once my home. I was also so very grateful for friends for visiting the exhibition. 

Parasites September 2017 - Merino Wool, Cross Bred Wool (undyed)

The pod-like installation is called 'Parasites' and explores the notion that our relationship with our land, our planet is not symbiotic, but parasitic. Each pod, ranging from 15cm to 100cm, is hand felted locally sourced merino, cross bred and corriedale wool. The use of wool itself, explores the idea of an 'introduced' species and its impact on the environment. They are seemingly organic, natural objects - yet have the unearthly presence of alien dogma. 

The second artwork in the exhibition is 'The Hills' - a wall-hanging landscape with layers of horizontal wool. It is both a tactile and visual exploration of the local environment. I am constantly inspired when I drive along the Hume Highway. The different layers of wool are like the undulations of the hills as I drive along, in the direction of home and red dust.