Opening drinks Saturday 5 May, 3-6pm: Traces in a Landscape: On the Edge of Greta

open from Thursday 3 May at Articulate project space. 
Hours: Thursday - Sunday 12 - 5 pm May 3 -27 2012


Traces in a Landscape: On the Edge of Greta is the culmination of a collaborative project by two Sydney artists, Vivienne Dadour and Elizabeth Ashburn that extended from 2010 to 2012.      

Vivienne Dadour  Stereoscopic Views series 2 #1 2012

 Digital print on Ilford  pearl paper 32.9x 48.3cm (ed of 10) ©

Liz Ashburn Traces #1 2012, Watercolour on board 36x 37.5 cm  

This art project was conceived as a archeological investigation of a site on the outskirts of the town, Greta, in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. From 1939-49 it was the site for the largest army training camp in Australia. Between 1949-1959, it became known as the Greta Migrant Camp a venue for a massive immigration program for those displaced by the conflict in Europe during the Second World War. Both the involvement of Australian soldiers in international conflicts and the great wave of resettlement of migrants remain significant events in Australian history.

Dadour and Ashburn engaged with examining the present landscape for the residue and remnants of previous actions or occupancy through an active process of art making related to what has survived. They responded individually and collaboratively using photography, watercolour and drawing to express the presence/absence dimension of this landscape. As the occupants of the Greta site were situated on the edge of the town of Greta, Ashburn and Dadour are aware they also are on the edge of the multiple histories of this site. Traces in a Landscape: On the Edge of Greta is a protest against forgetting and aligns with the political sub-texts often found in the work of these artists through their concern in revealing what may have been obliterated, ignored, hidden or obscured.

One implication of their collaboration is that by making aspects of this site accessible to others a reality implicit in this regenerated landscape can now be shared.

www.viviennedadour.com; www.lizashburn.com


press release

Traces in a Landscape: On the Edge of Greta is part of Head On.