This year I'm curating the HIDDEN exhibitions in Rookwood Cemetery, 7 September to 7 October 2019, open sunrise to sunset.
Please join me for the opening event, Saturday 7 September 3-6pm RSVP, or for one of my curator’s tours with some of the artists 10.30am-12.30pm Saturday 14 September, Saturday 28 September and Sunday 6 October RSVP
HIDDEN 2019 invites you on a contemplative and creative journey through one of the oldest sections of Rookwood Cemetery. Find your own pathways and connections, guided by site-responsive artworks engaging with the layered narratives and heritage of this special place. Experience handling cemetery soil, ritualised remembrances, heart-felt emotions and personal stories of memory and loss. Consider reflections on everyday life shaped by the inevitability of death, which resonates into the ways we choose to live, love, fear, believe and hope.
Jewish, Buddhist, Christian and Muslim traditions inform several of these works, others draw on atheist, agnostic and broader spiritualties: reflecting the cultural, social and religious diversity of Western Sydney today. Our cycles of life – from birth to death – are entangled with the people, places and ecologies of the world we live in. Some of these artworks address a poignant sense of mourning environmental deaths, escalating extinctions and the pervasiveness of our climate crisis, prompting consideration about what it means to be alive here and now.
Farewelling loved ones and returning their remains to the Earth is significant in all cultures throughout history. Here on Dharug country, it is important to remember the vast scope of human spiritual and physical connection to this place, stretching back tens of thousands of years. Many of the HIDDEN 2019 artists reflect on their families’ immigration history, from Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, Sri Lanka, Loa, Iraq and China. Travel continues as several of our artists are on residencies in Japan, USA, Germany and Indonesia, while others live in Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Norway. Congratulations to all of the artists, it has been a pleasure working with you and the team at Rookwood. I’ve greatly appreciated the stories, memories and responses to place that you have shared with me over the past few months.
Download pdf catalogue
Download pdf catalogue
HIDDEN Sculptures
Anney Bounpraseuth, Audrey Newton, Barak Zelig, Cameron Stanton & Rachael Lafferty, Claire Tennant, Cybele Cox, Emma Devine & Samantha Kirby, Gillian Kayrooz, Helen Earl, Hilde Angel Danielsen, Pentagon Corridors, Jane Gillings & Irene Traucki, Julie Monro-Allison, Karmyn Gibson, Lachlan Warner, Leon Lester, Linda Brescia, Lisa Tolcher, Lisa Andrew & Rachel Buckeridge, Louise Morgan, Ludwig Mlcek, Liz O'Reilly, Mandy Burgess & Ro Murray, Marina Robins, Mimi Dennett, Nadia Odlum, Nerine Martini, Nuha Saad, Paul Greedy, Polly Williams, Priscilla Bourne, Renuka Fernando, Sharon Risdale, Sylvia Griffin, Tammy Wong Hulbert and Wesley Harrop.
HIDDEN Students
Rouse Hill High School, Cabramatta High School, Barker College, MLC School Burwood, L&L Riverwood Creative Community, Anne Leung ACU Strathfield, Harry Copas and Emma Sargent UNSW Art & Design Paddington.
HIDDEN Films
Cigdem Aydemir, Cynthia Schwertsik, Dante Lee, Jacqui Mills, Penelope Cain, Peter Kozak, Peachey & Mosig, Simon Bare and Spike Deane.
HIDDEN Curator
Kath Fries
%2BWhite%2C%2BBRANCH%2B3d.jpg)
.jpg)
