Photographing the Drought
"I used to think there was no link between farming and art...well, most art reflects the environment in which it is produced and the artist who produces it..."
More from this Issue
Kay Aldenhoven on Annie Taylor
Exhibition review Doggone: Goddog: godingo: dingod
Works by Annie Taylor
24 Hour Art Darwin, Northern Territory
21 October - 5 November 1994
Ingrid Day on Phil Mullaly
Exhibition review Other Refuge Have I None
Phil Mullaly
New Land Gallery
16 November - 30 December 1994
Living with the Land
If there is a contemporary issue for landscape artist to engage with, it must be the process of developing a relationship with the landscape, even if it is at the level of s sustain[able] failure, a low level antagonism or an uneasy peace. It is as difficult and as complex as any other issue, and it ultimately speaks of the human condition.
Rene Boutin: An Artist and His Garden
New Caledonia has become the first Pacific nation to hold a Biennale of Contemporary Visual Art. Lucienne Fontannaz travelled to Noumea to interview artist Rene Boutin and discovered an artist who takes more than the gallery and his studio as his milieu.
Maggie Baxter on High Fibre Diet
Exhibition review High Fibre Diet
Fremantle Arts Centre
Western Australia
29 October - 4 December 1994
Asian Tucker in the NT - new trend, old ecology
An installation work 'Guarding Civilization's Rim' a collaborative effort by 'The Personal Museum' comprising three Queensland artists opened in Townsville in September 1994. The project has been specifically created for and about northern Australia - the last frontier.
Cate Jones on Photography
Exhibition review Lifeworks: Aboriginal women photographed in action and at work by Aboriginal women photographers
Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute
Adelaide South Australia
7 October - 4 December 1994
Portrait of the Farmer as a Mature Potato
"As with everything else, the country that I have been talking about is frequently regarded as a commodity, be it in relation to yields of primary produce or to spectacles and hypothetical experiences marketed for tourist consumption. Here's the main thing to understand: this commodification is entirely at odds with the appreciation of landscape that I've been trying to tell you about."
David Bromfield on Sculpture
Exhibition review The Games Room
Stuart Elliott at Lawrence Wilson Art Galley
University of Western Australia
21 October - 4 December 1994
Death of a Myth
Michelle H Elliot at Gomboc Galleries and Sculpture Park
6 - 27 November 1994
The Cultural Biography of Plants
The cultural biography of plants provides an extremely fertile field for artists to explore. It also encourages artists, and viewers, to explore the interface between cultures and between culture and agriculture.
The Struggle for LESS Interesting Pictures
Beth Field is a farmer and a photographer in the WA wheatbelt facing a curious loss, one she is happy to accept - the dramatic colours of sunsets reflected in the salt lakes which she used to photograph may soon be hard to find as revegetation reclaims the soil. She recounts the changes she has seen in the last decade.