Art beat
FEAST FOR THE EYES The Darwin Festival may be known for sweaty, onstage action, but there is also plenty of visual art on display around town for culture vultures to dive into
THE Darwin Festival is in full swing, with a huge array of performance shows over the next two weeks.
The Visual Arts program from the festival exhibition has a strong selection of local content in venues across the city.
Here’s a quick look at some of the exhibitions open throughout the festival.
OPEN CUT AND TENNANT PRECENCE AT NCCA
Open Cut
is a collaboration between artists Jacky Green, Therese Ritchie and Sean Kerins and gives a space and voice for Borroloola artists and residents to talk about the long history of exploitation of their country in the name of ‘northern development’.
The exhibition shines a light on the current ongoing devastation wrought by the region’s McArthur River Mine through photographic portraits, paintings and graphic design/text.
Tennant Presence is an exhibition of experimental paintings and other 2D works by participants in an art therapy/ special projects program run by artist Rupert Betheras at the Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation Piliyintinji-ki Stronger Families Men’s Centre.
The work shines a light on Aboriginal perspectives on mining and other cultural/ environmental and personal issues.
HEADSHOTS AT MAYFAIR
Darwin-based artists Chayni Henry, Jesse Bell and David Collins are joined by interstate artists Matthew Newkirk, Ben Frost and Ha Ha each responding to the theme, headshots.
Henry said her work on show is based on a series on Australian identities with her work in headshots featuring Australian criminals.
“There’s those who were convicted of a crime here in Australia or overseas or who may be popular figures,” he said.
“I’ve also included the man Nemarluk, who was an indigenous man who killed some fisherman on his own country out in the Port Keats area and raises a question of what constitutes a criminal according to the government’s own agenda and how colonisation makes indigenous people criminals just for existing.”
Henry also incorporates her trademark text with “random philosophical musings.”
“Other time it’s a more direct historical anecdote and I try to bring humour because it mitigates some of the fairly harsh subject material and that’s how I roll anyway.”
INTO THE WATER AT TACTILE ARTS
Into the Water is an immersive exhibition that delves into the waters of Arnhem Land.
Through the storytelling of contemporary fibre artists of the larger Maningrida region, this exhibition presents a world abundance with totemic ancestors and beings, animals and the various technologies used to hunt.
Senior artists from the region including Lulu Laradjbi, Anniebell Marrngnamarrnga, Frewa Bardaluna, Vera Cameron, Maisie Cameron, Helen Stewart, Freda Ali and Doreen Jinggarrabarra will be shown alongside work from a new generation of weavers.
The exhibition is complimented by a video installation, with selected artists, by Maningrida Arts & Culture and water themed fabric design from Babbarra Women’s Centre.
OUT OF THE ART ROOM BY ARTS EDUCATORS OF THE NT AT DVAA
Teaching art to students in the Territory and maintaining a practice can be a challenge.
For the last three years the Arts Educators of the NT host an exhibition of works from the not-for-profit organisations members.
Out Of The Art Room features the selection of works range from drawings and painting to sculpture and jewellery help support AENT’s role in promoting the value of educating through art.
THE TERMITE MOUND PROJECT
Until August 26 Opens August 18 until September 1 Until August 26 The Termite Mound Project by Fiona CurreyBillyard is a series of sculptures based on termite mounds, arranged in a cluster in Festival Park.
The sculptures are made from fibreglass and have been cast from old termite mounds of various sizes ranging in height and width.
The surface of the mounds is smooth with a high gloss, mimicking termite mounds in their shape. The colours for the mounds are bright with fluorescent greens, blues and yellows. Until August 27 _Until September 2