Red poppies and a minute’s silence for the war; the smell of cool rain on hot earth in the dog days of summer; the tune in the air that reminds you of your first kiss; the majesty of songlines or the fury of battlegrounds, walked upon then and now…
Remembrance can be the act of showing respect for the dead: rosemary sprigs for the ANZACs; Day-of-the-Dead ceremonies to honour the spirits, a riot of candy-coloured skulls atop candle-strewn altars, and mesmeric death masks adorned with flowers and insects; warnings that Indigenous images, voices and names might be present.
But it is the simple act of remembering, too, as richly patterned as it is leveraged, causing jolts of recognition, or that warm glow of a happy childhood memory. It can be a flash of understanding between strangers, or hazy flecks of last-night’s fun, a shiver of déjà vu, or Pavlov’s-dog salivation in anticipation of the sharp tang of taste.
The smell of oil paint and cedar redolent of the warm wood of a grandmother’s studio, rich in endeavour and love; an old hurt bubbling to the surface like acid; the pride we feel in the face of valour – be it shadowed nostalgia or visceral recollection, remembrance is defined by its perspective and contextualised by experience.
It is unique.
In a show designed to evoke powerful emotion, over 20 artists exhibit what remembrance means to them. It will feature the work of Will Coles, Dillon MacEwan, Jasmine Poole, Andrea Davies, Christie Torrington, Pierre Cavalan, Terry Archer, Onur Ka, Azelia Maynard, Robert Maxwell, Chris Lego, Paul Irving, BUNKWAA, Gemma Lark, Andrew Jones, Nikki McLennan, Lu Campbell-Smith, Sasha Wild, Alli Sebastian Wolf, Victoria Waghorn, H Morgan-Harris and more to be announced.
Opening Night: 6pm 25th November 2022
[image credit: Seven Sisters Songline 1994, Josephine Mick, Ninuku Arts]