Travel stories centre of new art exhibition

VERTIGO, the title of an exhibition currently on display at the Alexandra Lawson Gallery, plays with the physical feelings evoked by experiences of travelling in Australia.

Feelings of standing at the base of epic gorges that are all encompassing, as well as reflecting upon how the theoretical concept of antipodes (upside down land) continues to inform Australian identity constructs.

“I look up from the base of a gorge in Western Australia. The ground feels unstable under my feet,” Dr Hayley Megan French, a Sydney based artist and academic who created the new paintings for the exhibition, said.

“I am overcome by the landscape that surrounds me. Personal, social, political, violent histories are embedded here.

“I am aware these histories exist, but I do not know them, maybe I cannot

really know them.

“Back home in Parramatta, the landscape is different but still carries these histories. The feeling is the same: vertigo. Unsettled, but at home.”

Dr French is a researcher focusing on contemporary Australian art and has written and lectured extensively on indigenous art.

In addition to her

exhibition at the Alexandra Lawson Gallery, she presented a lecture at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery on the topic of “The Place of Contemporary Australian Painting” on October 26.

The following day, she presented an artist talk at the Alexandra Lawson Gallery.

The exhibition will be open until December.

PHOTOS: NEV MADSEN ART SHOW: Enjoying the evening at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery are (from left) Dr Alexandra Lawson, Art Galleries and Cultural Services regional coordinator Sue Lostroh and Dr Hayley Megan French.

Val Sawers (left) and Sandy Pottinger have a great time at the gallery.

David and Monica Usher listened to Dr French’s talk.