Culture/Agriculture
Looking at the Landscape, the cultural meanings of what we grow, region = bioregion, botany and the body, farming as art, bush tucker as well as reviews of exhibitions and books make up this feast of an issue.
The Halifax EcoCity Project is not just the seed for a future ecological Adelaide; it is the embodiment of a new paradigm that is sweeping the planet.
Published March 1995
The daily experience of tending a tract of land in South Australia's south east is the raw material of the art of artist farmer James Darling. 'Define the Country' a major exhibition at the Riddoch Gallery in Mount Gambier of huge images, paintings, videos and installations challenges the way we look at this country. Extracts from the artist's diaries offer a glimpse into the business of making sense of life on the land. Large format (fold out) images in the article.
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.
To entitle an exhibition 'Garden of Earthly Delights' is to invite comparison with mediaeval Dutch painter Hieronymous Bosch. Fiona Hall's exhibition of this name was toured in 1994 by the National Gallery of Australia.
Story 1: A story about land owners and nomads. Story 2: Never terra nullius. Story 3: Genetic imperialism. Story 4: The politicization of hunger. Story 5: Kunde and the perception of order.
Even in the shiny spaces of the big cities, for some the dirt of the paddocks is only just below the surface. Michael Eather talks to three artists who were born and raised in the country, about their current attitudes to the land as a place of production.
Making taste? Making money? Melbourne historian Juliet Peers scrutinises a group of books and catalogues on corporate art collections to see whether boardroom fancies and their lavish publications reflect a wider role in shaping popular visions of Australian painting.
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.
"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..."
Explores the relationship between food and its representation in the northeast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Remember, dangerous themes make dangerous art.
"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."
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.
The artist grew up in Baguio, which looks to be quite close to Ifugao on the map, and although I was taught that the rice terraces of this region of the Philippines were the eighth wonder of the world it was many years before he was able to see them.
Cannibis Sativa as a drug, as uses of hemp - textiles, fabric and paper - as building materials, as oils food and protein, for medical and therapeutic applications, biomass energy... so why is there a prohibition?
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.
"We are walking along, sister, singing and making country with the point of our digging sticks. What is that sister? A mangrove shell. We must put it within the mouth of this mat and hide it, making it sacred...Indeed it is sacred to us. Explores the importance of the mangroves to the indigenous people in northern Australia and the links to the Dreaming and their artistic representations."
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.
Re-creation of a living landscape has to happen in farmyards, back-yards, and city squares, it has to be understood and practised at the small scale as well as the large. The remake the landscape for an ecological future we must make it fit for all living beings.
Aesthetic value is determined by commonly held notions of taste, beauty and attractiveness and differs from culture to culture. How does this influence us in our choice of nourishment - our daily bread, fruit or snack food? Why does food today look like it does?
Looks at the recent work of John Wolseley and Victor Majzner.
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
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
Exhibition review Other Refuge Have I None Phil Mullaly New Land Gallery 16 November - 30 December 1994
Exhibition review Doggone: Goddog: godingo: dingod Works by Annie Taylor 24 Hour Art Darwin, Northern Territory 21 October - 5 November 1994
Exhibition review High Fibre Diet Fremantle Arts Centre Western Australia 29 October - 4 December 1994
Exhibition review Passionate Habits Marijana Tadic Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia 11 November - 4 December 1994
Exhibition review 600,000 Hours (mortality) exhibitions Experimental Art Foundation Adelaide South Australia 15 September - 4 December 1994
Exhibition review Four Point Bearing: Simon Barley, Paul Hay, Ian Parry and James Smeaton Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery 26 December 1994 - 25 February 1995 Artist's journal by Paul Hay
Exhibition review Elsje King: Textiles University Gallery University of Tasmania, Launceston 9 September - 7 October 1994
