“Photography: Real and Imagined” at NGV

My home city, Melbourne, abounds with all things cultural: from large music, comedy, international arts festivals, to local community street fun, with dancing and feasting from around the world. Melbourne caters for every taste and budget, special occasions or friendly catch-ups, art, theatre too for all interests musical, ballet, opera, drama, new works and classics. We’re spoilt for choice!

There’s a strip that strolls from CBD festival venues and hubs, past the National Gallery of Victoria’s Ian Potter Centre and ACMI (Australian Centre for Moving Images) on Federation Square, to the Arts Centre – State Theatre, Playhouse, Fairfax, Hamer Hall; the NGV International, around the corner to Melbourne Theatre Company, Melbourne Recital Centre, then turn left to Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA) and The Malthouse with its theatres and courtyard, perfect for summer nights.  That’s why Melbourne is ‘the cultural capital of Australia”. 

In the last weeks, I’ve visited a couple of interesting and vastly different photographic exhibitions.

PHOTOGRAPHY: REAL AND IMAGINED at the National Gallery of Victoria.
This exhibition explores the purposes of photography whether an historical record, an accurate depiction of moments in time, or an extension of the photographer’s creative thinking, the imagination. The photographer is a storyteller.

Photojournalism has long been an interest of mine, going way back to when Dad gave me my first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie, and a book, “The Family of Man” (Edward Steichen, Director, Dept of Photography, MOMA) about the exhibition originally held at MOMA in 1955 that toured the world for eight years, including Australia. A hugely ambitious project, Steichen invited worldwide photographers to curate a photo essay from beginnings of life to death. It covered the beauty, the grand, the poverty, the war, the celebrations. More than 500 photographers from 68 countries participated.  I still have this book – and several books of, especially, the Time Life Photographers. The Family of Man has been a life-time’s inspiration to me and has been reprinted several times since my first edition.

Photography: Real and Imagined at the NGV exhibits more than 200 works by Australian and international photographers, including several of my favourite photojournalists, from 19^th, 20^th and 21^st centuries.  A wonderful exploration through the camera lens.

               
Photography: Real and Imagined images.  My (very old) copy of “The Family of Man”
Photography: Real and Imagined | NGV is on at the Ian Potter Centre, Federation Square, until 28 January (free entry)

INK IN THE LINES – The Shrine of Remembrance
I attended the Opening of this compelling exhibition, “Ink in the Lines”, Australia’s modern veterans’ stories through their tattoos. Poignant photographic and audio-visual images of mateship, family, hope, loss, healing, identity and belonging sit sombrely on solid brick walls in The Shrine’s underground museum.

Tattoos are “a conversation starter,” we were told. I spoke with Historian/Curator Stephanie, Director/Cameraman Steve, and Photographer Rob, about their collaborative time in the making of this exhibition. I learnt the breadth of tears and laughter, veterans’ stories previously untold to families and friends. But, these men and women who participated in the exhibition all shared one common purpose in getting their tattoos – to remember.

In Tanya’s a/v story, she says, “Veterans aren’t old guys in wheelchairs. They’re women too, they have kids, that are still young enough to run around the park with their grandson … “

Kev:  “and many, many, many years later, that my brain just went, time to go into shut down mode, time to hibernate, time to pull yourself back from everything and away from everyone.”

It requires time to absorb the force behind these ‘ink’ inscriptions. I was in awe of the Australian War Memorial’s cleverness in the exhibition concept and visual presentation. Words such as valour, potency and a deep respect filled my mind.  Lest we Forget!

The Shrine of Remembrance is a place of reverence for me. I thought about the tattoo my Dad had on his arm, the Prince of Wales feathers.  During WWII, Pte Norman Robert Reid was in the 9^th Division Cavalry, fought and was injured in a tank in the Middle East. He told me stories, I have over 100 photographs, telegrams, press cuttings, letters home, but I never thought to ask about that tattoo and why that motif? I can only guess now that it was because our troops were fighting alongside the British allies, perhaps the tattoo was a nod to “King and Country”?

               
Photos: Stories in ink; Steve the Director/Cameraman; Kev.

More exhibition information in this catalogue.
https://www.awm.gov.au/sites/default/files/3131_awm_inkinthelines_touringbooklet_f.pdf
Ink in the Lines | Shrine of Remembrance is on until 11 February 2024

“BALLET IS FOR EVERYONE” –  Instagram @balletbusker
Bianca Carnovale, Melbourne’s Ballet Busker, adds beauty to our city. When she steps onto her mat, up en pointe, Bianca is mesmerising.   Little girls twirl, all ages stop to admire.

There is much more to Bianca’s artistry than ‘busking’.  She has warmth, engaging with young ones, inviting them to pose and be photographed with her.  She works hard. “Ballet busking” is a long way from being a corps de ballet member.  Bianca travels independently – this year I’m aware she has been to Adelaide Fringe and Edinburgh Fringe festivals, as well as USA, Canada and other Australian cities – responsible for gear, engagements, logistics, coping with varying climates and weather conditions.

Bianca’s commitment to bring the enjoyment of ballet is visible. Parents and grandparents comment on her posts: “It’s like you sprinkled fairy dust around and enchanted the little girl”; “you brightened up our day”.  Onlookers photograph and video her performance for Bianca to share the joy she brings.

I grew up with dance, particularly ballet. While my Mum taught ‘tap’, my sister was a ballet dancer. The first ballet performance I went to, like many children, was The Nutcracker Suite. My sister, a then student at Borovansky Ballet School, performed in this production. We had 10” vinyl records, with the ballet music and narrated stories. (Yes, I too went to ballet classes, and tap, and jazz, but was never interested in being a performer.)  Dance and ballet have continued throughout my life.

My delight now is that I enjoy the Ballet Busker with Grandson, Hugo. He looks forward to seeing her on Melbourne’s streets. Hugo has posed with Bianca and, on one occasion, carried her ropes as she moved from one busking location to another.  She also let him cue her music. Hugo talks about Bianca as his friend, how he likes ‘helping’ her.

Daily, Bianca posts on her Instagram when and when she will be performing. Melbourne is fortunate to have our own beautiful Ballet Busker.

            
Photos: Bianca performing outside Melbourne Town Hall and Vic Arts Centre; Hugo with his ballerina ‘friend’.

Links for experiencing Melbourne’s vibrant arts scene:
www.ngv.vic.gov.au
www.acmi.net.au  
www.artscentremelbourne.com.au
www.mtc.com.au 
www.melbournerecital.com.au  
www.acca.melbourne  
www.malthousetheatre.com.au

The “Ballet Busker” outside Melbourne Town Hall

© Photos and text Pamela Reid 2023

Photo: Van Gogh’s blue irises surround visitors to The Lume

When Shakespeare wrote “All that glistens is not gold” (The Merchant of Venice) he was referring to deceptive appearances, but around Melbourne at the moment there’s loads of arty glitter and glow for all tastes.

THE LUME (VAN GOGH)
Step into this vast 3,000 sq mtr space and you are surrounded by Van Gogh’s blue irises, his starry night, text and haunting music, as his masterpieces are brought to life through projection of moving images. I took my three-year-old grandson, Hugo, who said “Wow” a lot, typical of a young mind, missing nothing.   The Lume envelops you.

Australia’s first digital gallery, The Lume is art entertainment for all ages: sit quietly against a wall and immerse; participate in a ‘draw like Van Gogh’ lesson at your own easel; enjoy wine, pastries, cheeses – there’s a menu for adults and children – at the Café Terrace 1888, and absorb this evocative experience.

The Lume is housed at MCEC (Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre) until October 9. From October 26, a new Impressionist exhibition The Lume “Monet & Friends” will replace Van Gogh.
THE LUME Melbourne – An Epic Adventure into Art  

            
Photos: Immerse yourself in The Lume (Van Gogh); Champagne (mine) and croissant (Hugo’s) in the Café Terrace 1888
         
Photos: Draw like Van Gogh; soaring dance projections around the walls and floors.

JEWELLERY AND BODY ADORNMENT
A fascinating exhibition from the NGV’s collection, Jewellery and Body Adornment has been curated around four themes of history from antiquity to contemporary: Identity and Place; Status and Aspiration; Ceremony and Ritual; Values and Sentiment.

Jewellery and adornment, I learnt, is one of the oldest cultural art forms, significant because it has direct contact with the body. Of course, it made sense when I thought about it! Such personal representations of how you perceive yourself and want to be recognised. I should know, I’ve always enjoyed my jewellery collection whether bought for fashion, received as gifts or a travel ‘treat’. From an early age, I had a gold Christening bracelet with a heart lock, then my first gold wristwatch for my 13th birthday (now you are a teenager). In the 60s, I wore cameos on velvet ribbon chokers around my neck. I returned from (1980s) holidays in Bali, my ears dangling coloured wooden parrots and frangipanis. Venice brought spectacular Murano glass bracelets and necklaces.  I love brooches too, always adding a bit of zing to my work clothes.  Yes, I wear jewellery and it says a lot about who I am.

               
Photos: Italian Parure 1860 (and detail), 1826 and 1830; Golce & Gabbana (Italy) CDs necklace; Marjorie Schick “Much ado about twenty bracelets”

A parure is a 19th C matching suite of jewellery, designed for elegant women to wear all at the same time, an ornate feature of Status and Aspiration.

Dolce & Gabbana’s CD necklace was an overt statement of fashion and lifestyle, while Marjorie Schick’s 2006 work “Much ado about twenty bracelets” is bracelets within one larger-than-life bracelet. It’s colourful, clever and quirky (synthetic polymer paint on wood, bronze and steel).

             
Photos: Pilgrims’ pendants; Suffragettes’ valour medal; Peter Tully’s “Love me Tender” necklace (1977); various; Wedgewood’s ceramic Abolition of the Slave Trade medallian (1787)

The Ceremonial and Ritual theme exhibits jewellery worn for devotional purposes, displaying symbolism associated with religion, cultural identity, life and death. In India, for centuries, pilgrims making long, spiritual journeys wore small metal plaques engraved with images or text to indicate their religious or ethnic origin.  These pendants were made in workshops at temples along the pilgrimage passages.

In 1909, the UK Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) awarded medals for Valour in recognition of those Suffragette’s who had been imprisoned for their cause. Many had gone on hunger strike and were force fed during their incarceration, being permanently injured, and some dying. It is estimated that 100 of these medals were manufactured and awarded.

Mourning jewellery commemorates the death of a loved one, a public symbol of grief. Though not ritualistic Peter Tully’s 1977 “Love me Tender” necklace commemorates Elvis Presley, an ornamental depiction of the adulation given to Rock/Pop stars.

Wedgewood’s ceramic medallion was produced in 1787 by British Potter, Josiah Wedgwood, as a seal for the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Depicting a kneeling black man in chains with his hands raised, it is inscribed “Am I not a man and a brother?”.  Wedgewood made 500 of these for distribution (not sold for profit). John R Oldfield’s (1998) Popular Politics and British Anti-slavery: The Mobilisation of Public Opinion Against the Slave Trade, 1787-1807, refers to the medallion as “the most recognizable piece of antislavery paraphernalia the movement ever produced.”

Photo: David Bielanger’s wristwatch

I have a favourite piece of jewellery in the exhibition: David Bielanger’s witty abstraction of a wristwatch. Seemingly cardboard with staples as hands, the wristwatch is made from silver and white gold. This adroit work turns Shakespeare’s writing on its head as all that glistens looks like cardboard, but could be gold!!

Exhibition is at NGV until June 2023 Jewellery and Body Adornment from the NGV Collection | NGV

WORD MADE FLESH (Paul Yore)
Paul Yore’s work is deliciously excessive, it glitters, it sparkles, its queer… and so much more!

Word Made Flesh at ACCA (Australian Centre for Contemporary Art) is an assembling of the artist’s breadth of work over the past 15 years. Born in Melbourne, Yore studied painting, archaeology and anthropology at Monash University. He works in collage, appliqué, mixed media, needlework. One ACCA gallery space is packed with a vibrant, wonderland of sculptural installation.

            
Photos: razzle dazzle with lights, fabrics, collage, mixed media of new and found items.

Paul Yore’s themes are equally diverse, addressing pop-culture, religion, politics, history, sex. His text, signs, illumination, images compound and leap out, amusing, intriguing, offending – or not!  Overall, it bedazzles, up close it can be fun, intense, delightful messaging.  Its busy-ness takes time to absorb. Finding the right descriptive words for such abundance is challenging, but I’ve tried. The exhibition is decorative ramblings: camp, sometimes trashy, over-the-top. Enjoy!

         
Photos: themes in messaging
Word Made Flesh is at ACCA until 20 November 2022  https://acca.melbourne/exhibition/paul-yore-word-made-flesh/

Photo:  Paul Yore “Word Made Flesh”

© All photos and text Pamela Reid/tPRO 2022

David Noonan’s exhibition “Only when it’s cloudless” at TarraWarra Museum of Art.

Still riding the wake of our lockdowns, I’ve been slowly stepping out and around Melbourne. My city is again welcoming, bursting with liveliness in visual and performing arts. Focussing on exhibitions, here’s some of my highlights.

There’s a whole lot of queer going on at the National Gallery of Victoria, an abundance of this and that, colour and movement. “Queer” here refers to an eclectic mix that explores gender, sexuality and sensibility through drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, video and, of course, flamboyant fashion.

The exhibition has been assembled from within the NGV’s collection. Some artists are those who identify as LGBTQ+, others are those who have lived and worked within that “queer” world.

         
Photos: Romance was Born – Luke Sales, Anna Plunkett; Gumnut Ball Gown – Paul McCann; Body Language – David McDiarmid; Pacific Sisters – Rosanna Raymond; Flamingo Park – Jenny Kees/Jan Ayres; Ruel and Bram – Drew Pettifer.

It’s widely known that sexuality plays an historical role across the arts spectrum, from authors to theatre-makers, performers, photographers, painters. “Queer” and the avant-garde are usual bedfellows. There’s a gallery space dedicated to this. Its diverse and interesting to read the accompanying notes.
          
Photos: The Victory of Faith – St George Hare; Ring Gymnast 1 – Eugene Jansson; Bronze by Gold – Richard Hamilton; Glad to be Gay – Ponch Hawkes; The Bathers – Duncan Grant; Ntozakhe II – Zanelle Muholi.

Queer is at the NGV until 21st August  https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/queer

A Trip to TarraWarra
Leaving Melbourne for a weekend away in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, we drove directly to TarraWarra Wine Estate and Museum of Art.  On arrival, the vista is sweepingly beautiful. The wine cellar awaits, but first we wanted to see David Noonan’s exhibition “Only when it’s cloudless”.

The gallery itself is a stunning construction, loads of space to roam, with large inviting windows that look out onto the valleys, bringing shards of daylight within.

        
Photos: Vista from TarraWarra Estate; around the Museum of Art spaces. David Noonan’s “Only when its cloudless” exhibition.

Australian artist, David Noonan’s exhibition (curated by Victoria Lynne) is engaging on every level. His black and white images are collage, using all the greyscales within.  You can sense the spatial distribution, with some works choreographed in a theatrical manner.

        
Photos: Works and detail from David Noonan’s exhibition. 

After soaking up “Only when it’s cloudless”, we indulged in a glass of TarraWarra 2021 Pinot Noir Rosé with a plate of terrine and cheese.  A visit to TarraWarra can’t be recommended highly enough.  It’s a delicious experience for all the senses.

David Noonan “Only when it’s cloudless”  closes 10 July. https://www.twma.com.au/exhibitions/david-noonan

HELMUT NEWTON In Focus
At the Jewish Museum in St Kilda there’s an exhibition that resonates with my early life. It’s a celebration of Helmut Newton’s photography (born Helmut Neustädter 1920, Berlin) whom I came to know as Australia’s most famous fashion photographer.

Helmut had his first camera at 12 years of age. He left school at 16 to become apprentice to Berlin portrait photographer, “Yva” (Else Neuländer-Simon). He fled Hitler’s Berlin, living in Singapore for two years, before arriving in Australia on the Queen Mary in 1940.

My memories of his black & white photography are that he transformed the ‘focus’ on women in fashion. They were proudly sexy, evocative, he captured female beauty as something remarkable. Always these women had an alluring presence.

          
Photos: Helmut Newton, Photographer:  Women – fun, beautiful, sexy, evocative.

Helmut Newton set up his studio at 353 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, the beginnings of our rag trade strip known as ‘The Lane’, where clothing and millinery designers emerged with glamour and pizazz. His photography featured in Vogue and other respected fashion magazines. His subjects became ‘cover girls’, notably Maggie Tabberer, perhaps Australia’s best-known fashion model of the times, and forever into her career.

Included in the Helmut Newton In Focus exhibition is a video room of short films. I sat through them all. They told much history of what I remember about growing up in Melbourne as a little girl whose Mum had worked as a pattern maker/seamstress in Flinders Lane during the 1930/40s. There were gowns in Mum’s wardrobe that dazzled with satin and sequins. These were ballgowns and bridesmaid dresses, embroidered and appliquéd. Mum could make a pattern for anything from a light summer dress to a lined, winter coat. Watching the videos, it amused me to hear that, back in those exciting times for Melbourne fashion, mothers told daughters, “It’s not good to work in Flinders Lane. It’s not proper”. I bet my Mum, Vera, loved it!

Helmut Newton lived a celebrity life, photographing his famous, creative friends around the world.  What his camera captured was elusive to most. It’s a truly wonderful exhibition.

          
Photos:  David Bowie; David Hockney, Andy Warhol; Vogue magazine covers featuring Maggie Tabberer; b/w photography; Helmut Newton; my Mum, Vera (left), strutting her style in Flinders St, April 1935. 

Helmut Newton In Focus is on until 29 January 2023
https://www.jewishmuseum.com.au/helmut-newton

The NGV is for everyone!
I’m finishing writing this blog back where I started – at the National Gallery of Victoria, where there’s so much for children’s interest and interaction.   On arrival, Julian Opie’s illuminated birds stroll the lawn strips outside the gallery. The NGV’s waterwall on the front façade has been there since the gallery opened its site in 1968. Thirty years later, when the NGV was re-designed, there was public protest that this popular feature would be removed with the new plans by Italian architect, Mario Bellini. The waterwall stayed for generations, families, tourists, all visitors, their joy and playfulness.  I’ve taken many photos of the waterwall over the years, with my daughter when she was little and we’d regularly visit the gallery, and now with her son, my grandson.

          
Photos:  Julian Opie birds; the waterwall; looking around; another Julian Opie favourite, the “wee wee boy” fountain.

The current interactive kiddies’ section has a room for building shapes, another room has fun interactive where their face is photographed and they create a Fornacetti style body.  The information desk provides ‘scavenger hunt’ cards based on colour and finding objects. The little ones can roam any gallery space, looking around, observing, always excited to find a lady wearing a hat or a dog in a painting.  Our favourite place for colour is the Great Hall, where we lie on cushions, pointing to colours in the Leonard French glass ceiling. What is most engaging, as a parent/grandparent, is that you don’t lead or suggest. The children engage solely on their own understanding, while you sit back and enjoy.  Further, the NGV offers online learning sessions from Under 5s up to secondary level education for teachers and students to participate.

          
Photos: building; making Fornacetti face and body; collage; seeing colours; found ‘wood’

Victoria is fortunate to have our wonderful National Gallery of Victoria.
The NGV is open 10am-5pm daily  www.ngv.vic.gov.au 

Photo: Helmut Newton In Focus exhibition. 

© Images of all works belong with the artists/photographer
© All photos and text Pamela Reid/tPRO 2022

Fiona Crawford (2013) at the Opening of “Anastasia – Woman of Eureka”

Artist and friend, Fiona Crawford, passed away in October last year. Fiona was my ‘art buddy’. For both of us, our passion to create art was put on hold while we worked through those decades of life, family, career. When we did burst forth, we enthused about all new learnings. Moreso, Fiona and I shared a zeal for travels, history, all things inter-related to art. Over a wine, or two, we discussed upcoming plans – always ‘the next trip’, what places to visit – our current art projects, mutually supportive. We visited local exhibitions together. Curiosity and excitement doesn’t wane. It rejuvenates.

As an artist, Fiona was an intelligent story-teller.  As a woman, she was fervent about equality. Her approach to artmaking reflected both. Fiona’s 2013 exhibition “Anastasia – Woman of Eureka” was a testament to her integrity and commitment to women’s rights and family history. Anastasia Withers was one of the earliest women on the Victorian goldfields. She was also Fiona’s great-great Grandmother. Anastasia was trusted to hide the miners’ gold under her petticoats. She and two other women are believed to have designed and sewn the “Eureka Flag” (1854) which became, and remains, a symbol of the battle for people’s rights.

“Anastasia – Woman of Eureka” originally exhibited at Gasworks Arts Park in Albert Park, then later at MADE (Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka) in Ballarat, regional Victoria, site of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade. Fiona told Anastasia’s story through painting, printmaking, sculpture and textiles.

            
Photos:  Gasworks Arts Park – Fiona’s exhibition Opening

Importantly, we had fun!  At the Mirka Mora exhibition (Heide Museum of Modern Art), we were incredulous at the many glass cases bursting with Mirka’s little sketch books. We combed over these drawings, amazed how she prolifically practised her skills. Then, Mirka’s glorious paintings and a gallery space full of her dolls. Deciding it was ‘play time’, we busied ourselves in the children’s activity room.

The David Hockney exhibition at the NGV inspired us. We’d so looked forward to it. Those explosive colours and Hockney’s new works on drawing tablets. Keeping up with kids, showing us how it’s done!
               
Photos:  Play time at Heide, Mirka Mora exhibition; ‘colour our world’ at Hockney, NGV.

Another exhibition that delighted us was South African artist, Robin Rhode’s “The Call of Walls”. This was his first solo exhibition in Australia (NGV) and his work was new to us. All the more reason to explore. The street is Rhode’s workspace, as he creates using photography and animation.  Wonderful!
         
Photos:  Watching and marvelling at Robin Rhode’s exhibition.

In 2016, I was in Sinalunga (Tuscany, Italy) for an art history/en plein air painting workshop, while Fiona was a little further north in Assisi, undertaking a residency at Arte Studio Ginestrelle. Her intention was to paint, but in Assisi, Fiona discovered Punto Assisi, an embroidery tradition practised by the local women, that pre-dates the Renaissance. Punto Assisi resonated with Fiona on every level. The linen, the threads’ colour palette, this women’s work, unique to Assisi.

Back here in Melbourne, over another glass of wine, I clearly recall Fiona telling me, excitedly, about her ‘find’. It set Fiona off on a whole new artistic journey and became the subject not only for her next creative project, but she was awarded an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship through Federation University Australia Arts Academy for a Master of Arts (Research).  Here was a different ‘canvas’ to give voice to women, drawing with thread, to “honour the unknown makers of this art.” (Fiona).  She returned to Assisi in 2019, spending more time with these women, buying their fabric and threads.   The culmination of Fiona’s work was titled “When you go looking for me I am not there”.  It was – and is – exquisite. Exhibited at the Post Office Gallery in Ballarat early 2019, her Punto Assisi embroidery was to continue on to La Storta (through Venezia Contemporanea, Venice). But, the Covid 19 pandemic hit.  Victoria went into lockdown just as her works were assembled in Ballarat.  Another journey for Fiona, when she was diagnosed with cancer. We didn’t get to see “When you go looking for me I am not there” until her memorial service in February this year, back in Gasworks Arts Park.
            
Photos: “When you go looking for me I am not there” Gasworks Arts Park, February 2022; Fiona’s grandchildren play at Gasworks. 

Gosh, I miss my friend, Fiona.

A glass of wine, chatting all things art, history, travel, religion (at the NGV).

©   2022 Text and photographs Pamela Reid/tPRo

Maree Clarke “Me in Mourning”

My city, Melbourne, went back into lockdown in July.  For those who counted, it was lockdown number six.  My city, Melbourne, gained the infamous title of “the world’s most locked down city”.  In these last weeks, we have been slowly re-emerging, some cautiously, some oh-so-ready to bounce back into Melbourne’s lifestyle, welcome a New Year (it’s not that long ago we were “the world’s most liveable city” several times over).

I’d especially missed our National Gallery of Victoria. Back in July, we’d planned to view the Maree Clarke exhibition, Ancestral Memories.  Happily, the exhibition is still on.  Of equal interest, a new exhibition Found and Gathered, a coupling of works by Rosalie Gascoigne and Lorraine Connelly-Northey. Two exhibitions, three women artists, so grounded in their vision, respectful of the environment, heritage and belonging.

We went to NGV Australia early, at ‘doors open’, knowing there would be few people, safety in space in these Covid times. On entering the foyer, there’s an immediate sense of Found and Gathered as you walk around Connelly-Northey’s Fish trap, made from corrugated irons strips on rings of wire.

Ground floor, Found and Gathered.  My immediate response was to the NGV’S curation and concept in such a magical pairing of artists. Stepping into each gallery space, the impact is of the ‘whole’, then moving around the room, looking closer to explore the re-cycled textures and elements, their meanings.

            
Photos: Gallery foyer, Connelly-Northey’s “Fish trap”; Gascoigne’s “Takeover bid” against the rear wall; Connelly-Northey “A Possum Skin Cloak: Hunter’s Duck Net”;  detail as Ducks fly into the “Hunter’s Duck Net”;  Gascoigne’s “Feathered Fence” (swan feathers) in foreground, “Afternoon” on rear wall.

Rosalie Gascoigne (1917–1999) was born in New Zealand, where she went to Auckland University, studying English, French, Latin, Greek and Mathematics, graduating with a BA.  She married an astronomer, they moved to the Mt Stromlo Observatory outside Canberra, Australia. With no formal arts training, it was here Gascoigne explored the landscape, searching for discarded materials, developing her new-found creativity. It wasn’t until she was 57 that Rosalie exhibited and, in 1982, she became the first female artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale.

Born in Swan Hill, Victoria, on the traditional lands of the Wamba Wamba people, Lorraine Connelly-Northey gathers bits and pieces, re-purposing to reference her Indigenous traditions. Her sculptural works include reflections of traditional weaving techniques and cultural objects. Throughout, there is a strong presence of Aboriginal commitment to, and custodianship of, Country.

              
Photos: Gascoigne’s “Suddenly the Lake”;  Connelly-Northey’s “A Possum Skin Cloak: On Country”  sculpture is installed across two walls. Details from different viewpoints; some of Connelly-Northey’s Lap Laps (groin covers) woven from coarse and sometimes sharp materials, to bring attention to the ‘barbed’ sexual relations between Aboriginal women and Post-European settlers.

Maree Clarke’s exhibition Ancestral Memories is a deeply intimate experience. A Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba/Mutti Mutti/Boonwurrung woman, it is the first major retrospective of Clarke’s works across three decades, comprising a range of mediums and materials.

Most striking, and throughout, are 84 black/white photographic portraits Ritual and Ceremony. White ochre is painted on the faces and hair of the women, and on the eyes and t-shirts of the men. This ceremonial body painting represents the mourning practises of Aboriginal people along the Murray-Darling rivers.

Jewellery, printmaking, sculpture, glass and video works are all within Ancestral Memories. It feels sacred, reverent to be in the midst of such personal engagement with the artist’s ancestry.

            
Photos: “Ritual and Ceremony”; “River reed necklace set”; “Ancestral memory I and II”; “Long Journey Home”; “Me in Mourning”. 

Found & Gathered exhibition is on at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square, until 20 February.  There’s a virtual tour https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/virtual-tours/found-and-gathered
Ancestral Memories – Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Fed Square, Level 3, Indigenous Art, until 6 February   www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/maree-clarke

Photo: visitors at Found and Gathered exhibition

©   2022 Text and photographs Pamela Reid/tPRo