Introversion group exhibition


Introversion is a group exhibition by Isobel Markus Dunworth, Kath Fries, Prudence Holloway, Fiona Kemp, Kenneth Lambert and Jacqui Mills, which reflects on processes of folding inwards during the COVID-19 crisis. Their videos, sculptures, paintings and installations, each trace energy flows within interior worlds and engage with introverted patterns of psychological orientation. Turning one’s attention inwards has been almost unavoidable for many people during COVID-19 enforced social distancing; for some this self-isolation has been regenerative, but for others the compulsory alone-time has been challenging. 

The artists in this exhibition would usually value alone-time and seek it out on residencies or in studios, insulated away from the world. For them the COVID-19 crisis period of isolation wasn’t necessarily positive or productive in that way, but it did open up some space for reflection and introspection.

 

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis these artists were all connected by their participation in the ‘Silence Awareness Existence’ residencies at Arteles Finland, 2012-2019. Drawn to the isolated, quiet and introverted elements of Finnish culture, winter countryside and the secluded nature of the residency; they were inspired to focus on and develop their individual introspective creative processes. 

 

From these common threads of contemplation and quiet attentiveness, new conversations have grown whilst grappling with recent imposed isolation at home. These creative connections now come together opening up space for sharing with others recent experiences of folding inwards during the COVID-19 crisis.

 

Introversion is a collective response to the artists’ exploration of self, home, imagination and mindscape; letting go of the outside world, the city rat-race and extraverted social interactions. Through their shared exploration of alone-time, each reflects on their unique challenges of enforced social isolation and its impact on the inner-psyche. Introversion shares their experiences of creative indoor plant cultivation, working patiently with layered textures and natural materials, mesmerising metallic painting processes, videos conjuring the elemental and notions of memory, and the meditative process of kneading and baking bread.


Introversion, 3 – 19 July 2020

Artists: Kath Fries, Prudence Holloway, Fiona Kemp, Kenneth Lambert, Isobel Markus-Dunworth and Jacqui Mills

Breaking Bread opening event: Saturday 4 July 2 - 4pm

Artists Talks and closing drinks: Sunday 19 July 2 - 4pm

introversion-groupshow.squarespace.com 

 

Articulate project space

497 Parramatta Road, Leichhardt NSW 2040

open Friday to Sunday 11am - 5pm

articulate497.blogspot.com 



work in progress for ‘Whisperings'


For Introversion, I will be installing a new work titled Whisperings, which began with gathering fallen pieces of paperbark from a line of trees, (Melaleuca quinquenervia) across the road from my home. The trunks of these trees have always fascinated me with their thick undulating layers of soft bark, which seem to emanate comfort and mellow presence. Perhaps the local history of the Gadigal Wangal people, cradling their babies in paperbark coolamons, also feeds into my notion of these trees as nurturing guardians and conduits of dreams. 

Tentatively striping back the paperbark stratums of colour and texture, pulling away delicate thin sheets, like peeling skin; this process of exploring the paperbark layers becomes meditative. Slipping into analysing my inner-scapes of compounded habits, expectations, experiences and anxieties; self-reflection expanding and contracting with the variations of the stratums. Handling these delicate layers of paperbark, the trees’ stories quietly whispered to me. Imprinted with material memories of traffic fumes, human constructions, rain, drought, summer heat, winter chills, burrowing insects, chirping birds; subtly hinting at ancient arboreal wisdoms of place, reaching root systems far underground despite tarmac roads compressed by heavy trucks and constant car traffic; and stretching branches into the sky towards sunlight. 

Whisperings of a dreamlike threshold where exterior meets interior, conjuring a porous boundary of contemplation and the reality of interconnectedness. 

Participatory Hive Drawing session


On Friday 3rd July, 3pm, I'll be in the gallery talking about my Hive Drawing and inviting people to work on it with me. 
All welcome!

Occupied Exhibition
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre
30 Parke St Katoomba NSW 2780




You can read the Occupied exhibition catalogue here

Occupied - group exhibition BMCC

As Covid19 lockdowns ease in Sydney, the galleries begin to reopen and we’re allowed to travel more freely; I'm delighted to have my participatory work Hive Drawing included in the group exhibition 'Occupied', at Blue Mountains Cultural Centre. This exhibition of expanded drawing forms a timely reflection on how we engage with – and feel about – the built environments that we occupy on a daily basis.

I started Hive Drawing last year, under very different circumstances pre-Covid19, as part of a 'Super Organism' project with Penelope Cain and Barbara Doran. Then and now, visitors are invited to contribute to the circular patterning, like honeybees building a layer of honeycomb together in the hive. Honeybees are social insects and they live interdependently with each other, this process of working collaboratively is reflected in Hive Drawing – building on the hand-traced circles of your neighbour – and opens up ways of considering how we live together with each other and other beings. 

"... Hive Drawing is a participatory collective drawing reflecting community connections. Each participant is asked to place their hand on the drawing next to an existing circle and draw around it with a beeswax crayon, then dust the circle with turmeric. The result is a collection of golden circles – just touching – collectively creating a drawn expanse of honeycomb. Since social distancing this work takes on new meaning – physical connection is risky and yet incredibly desirable, with a constant balance of risk and judgement ..." - Rilka Oakley, extract from 'Occupied' exhibition essay

Coming out of Covid19 isolation, Hive Drawing invites us to consider how our built environments are social spaces, even the places we consider ‘private’ exist because other people helped build them and lived here before us. What does it mean now to be social and an active member of society? We are at a pivotal point in social history; locally and globally calls for social justice and equality ring out, we need to visualise a better future and find more creative and diverse ways of understanding what this means.  

“… We are individuals first, yes, just as bees are, but we exist in a larger social body. Society is not only real; it’s fundamental. We can’t live without it. And now we’re beginning to understand that this ‘we’ includes many other creatures and societies in our biosphere and even in ourselves … although we are practicing social distancing as we need to, we want to be social—we not only want to be social, we’ve got to be social, if we are to survive. It’s a new feeling, this alienation and solidarity at once. It’s the reality of the social; it’s seeing the tangible existence of a society of strangers, all of whom depend on one another to survive ... ” - Kim Stanley Robinson

‘Occupied’ is curated by Rilka Oakley and features work by Susanna Castleden, Clare Delaney, Kath Fries, Karen Golland, Jody Graham, Virginia Hilyard & Sue Pedley, Catherine O’Donnell, Mollie Rice, Margaret Roberts, Wendy Tsai and Rebecca Waterstone. Through the medium of expanded drawing, ‘Occupied’ examines the artists’ and the viewers’ experience of physical space – the architecture that surrounds us, street scapes, interior and exterior spaces we inhabit and the intersection between the built and natural environment. Scale, texture, tone and different methods of mark making are the primary focus. Making marks is an essential process to many artists and this exhibition explores the raw, tangible nature of drawing.

Occupied
2 June - 5 July 2020
Blue Mountains City Art Gallery - Blue Mountains Cultural Centre 
30 Parke St, Katoomba NSW bluemountainsculturalcentre.com.au
Darug and Gundungurra Country

Please note that due to social distancing restrictions there will not be an opening event for the exhibition or artist talks. 

Kath Fries, Hive Drawing, 2019-2020, (detail view), beeswax crayons and turmeric on found paper

Kath Fries, Hive Drawing, 2019-2020, beeswax crayons and turmeric on found paper

Kath Fries, turmeric glass vials for Hive Drawing participants 

Occupied exhibition gallery view. Left: Kath Fries Hive Drawing, Right: Clare Delaney Tree