Open till Sunday 19 February
Artists: Deborah Burdett, Renuka Fernando, Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess, Susannah Williams and Warren Armstrong
Artists: Deborah Burdett, Renuka Fernando, Ro Murray and Mandy Burgess, Susannah Williams and Warren Armstrong
In this group show, the
artists respond to the emotional states we find ourselves in when we wait. In a
lift, at the doctors, at hospital, at Centrelink, at the Motor Registry, at bus
stations and airport lounges - places where we are temporarily suspended in a state
of attentive dependence; unable to make independent decisions; unable to get on
with our lives. Interactions with others in the waiting room are strange and
artificial. Attempts at occupation are distracted.
But spare a thought for
the massive waiting rooms in other people’s lives: refugee camps, nursing
homes, cancer clinics. Or in other people’s heads: court cases, mental illness.
Or for a culture awaiting recognition of value. Life is literally on hold.
With ‘Bridging’, Ro Murray
and Mandy Burgess continue their exploration of homelessness started with
‘Dorothy’s House’ and ‘We are all Strangers’ at Chrissie Cotter Gallery in 2016.
Using simple ply shapes they convey the turmoil and the suspension of life in
detention camps.
Renuka Fernando’s work ‘in
memoriam’ reflects on ‘the waiting room’ as the passing of time
throughout one's life. This work is a meditation on personal loss after the death
of her father.
Susannah Williams and Warren Armstrong’s virtual drawing and sound
piece ‘Baiame’s Ngunna’ is a rendering of one of the oldest
technologies in Australia - one that is still waiting to receive the
recognition it deserves - in one of the newest and most hyped technologies. The
piece gives visitors an opportunity to explore an artistic rendering of the
Brewarrina fish traps; stone formations in outback NSW that are reputed to be
the oldest man-made structures in the world.