We wish to pay our respects to the traditional owners and custodians of the lands and waters on which we operate, the Ngunawal, Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples. We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and this land always has been and always will be Aboriginal land.

GESTURES GATHERED (11 AUG - 4 SEP 2022)

OPENING NIGHT: 11 AUG 6-8 PM

Gestures Gathered is a multidisciplinary exhibition that brings together four local Canberra artists: Janhavi Salvi, Hank Reynolds, Kate Matthews and Freya Gaunt. These artists have been selected for their ability to question how we belong, and respond to our environment through their chosen materials. Concepts of authorship, identity and singularity are uniquely explored by each artist, revealing a multisensory audience experience. Collaborative gestures made between audience and artist challenge divisions between site and viewer. 

Gestures Gathered portrays the complexity of experiences often shared in place, with each gesture capable of inhabiting multiple places at once.  The exhibition showcases a deep awareness that a single moment comprises many interacting elements, as explored in each work. 

Co-curated by Sophia Childs and Clementine Belle McIntosh

Freya Gaunt

Born and raised in Canberra, it was not until Freya was an adult that she moved to Indonesia, her grandmother’s homeland, where she spent many transformative years. Now back in Australia, she finds herself torn between two places that feel like home. 

Pulang kampung (pu-lung kam-poong), meaning ‘return home’ in Bahasa Indonesia, explores the mixed emotions surrounding longing, love and identity when you call two places home.

Freya honours her family in her work both in concept and in medium; she draws from her grandmother’s ancestral homeland, Indonesia, and uses stained glass, a skill passed down by her grandfather. 

Hank Reynolds

These paintings by Hank Reynolds are presented alongside a description card which intentionally personifies the painting and creates another layer as to which the paintings can be perceived. Some descriptions may be more relatable than others.

The description cards intend to impact the way paintings are perceived so that a fresh take can be viewed and considered.

The paintings themselves are abstractions to varying degrees, allowing for greater individual interpretation of each painting that will be affected by not only the description cards but prior experience and human condition of the viewer.

Janhavi Salvi

Displacement is an adventure mimicking a migrant’s life using only some ink and the participant’s finger. The installation has a simple premise- Dip your finger into the ink and pop a bubble!

Displacement falls under the realm of improvisational exhibition and attempts to challenge the methods of display and acts as a tool to perform a viewing acupuncture in the do not touch conditioning of a gallery set up. The wall becomes a microcosm of the migrant life who are visitors to a country and are temporary plot points in any given space and time. The installation retains an eradicable potential for exposing movement and engagement. 

What does the popping of a bubble indicate? It is an experiment, a figment, a quest, a challenge, even an exploration but at any given point a part of a much larger whole. Participating in the installation means staining your finger with ink! It means carrying with you a little more than an experience, a mark. 

Kate Matthews

Everywhen is a Virtual Reality series which misappropriates the Google street view platform to challenge western concepts of time and place. The carefully collaged Everywhen photospheres have been inserted into the digital public realm, ready to be found and explored at any time. Presented here as an installation, be immersed in expanded time, and take a moment to enjoy place. 

The Everywhen is a term introduced by Australian anthropologist William Stanner (1953) when emphasising the multiplicities and networks inherent in the Indigenous Dreaming. He wrote, “One cannot ‘fix’ the Dreaming in time; it was, and is, everywhen.”  Inside the VR environment, one is able to see place from multiple perspectives and instances, highlighting the significance of recognising pluralities within any contemporary Australian landscape, not just the Dreaming. We have a lot to learn from Indigenous knowledge.

Opening Night - Photo credit: Sophia Childs

Thank you to Emily O’Neill, Sophia Childs and Clementine Belle McIntosh for working the opening night.

Thank you to the following for working on the installation of Gestures Gathered:

Sophia Childs, Jason Burgess, Janhavi Salvi, Freya Gaunt, Clementine McIntosh, Kate Matthews, Hank Reynolds and Noel Freestone

Thank you to those who worked on the deinstall of the show:

Sophia Childs, Jason Burgess, Kate Matthews, Janhavi Salvi