I'm about to start a three week residency at The Lock-Up in Newcastle. My installations in the cells will be opening in conjunction with the exhibition at the John Paynter Gallery on Friday 29th April.
“My site-sensitive installations in The Lock-Up will explore the duality of fibers, ropes and netting to link, tie and connect as well as to restrain and contain. The same length of rope has the potential to be both a lifesaver and a hangman’s noose. Whispers of ghost stories will permeate these works, manifesting in a sense of tension, balancing on edge between the immediate present and unfurling possibilities of the unseen.”
The Lock-Up was the Newcastle Police Station from 1861 until its closure in 1982. Listed in the NSW Heritage Register, the Lock-Up is believed to be the only example in NSW that includes the work of three of the State’s important early architects; Alexander Dawson, Mortimer Lewis Jnr. and Walter Vernon. Constructed in Sydney sandstone, the building is one of a row of four significant buildings that reflect the prosperity of early Newcastle. The Lock-Up now functions as a cultural centre housing a contemporary art gallery and artist residency as well as the heritage listed prison cells.
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