On Belonging(s) 2019, Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport

On Belonging(s)

Curated by Erin Wilson

On Belonging(s) brings together four Tasmanian artists who are exploring how we attach value to objects, and the role they play in the stories we tell about ourselves, both individually and communally. On Belonging(s) is a reflection on how we construct our identity, connect ourselves to place and engage with our possessions, both nostalgically and idealistically, as extensions of the self.

Incongruous scenes blend images of landscape with modern and historical objects to explore tensions in the Australian landscape and ideas about place. The idyllic scenes merge European and Tasmanian objects and environments that do not really belong together in time or place.

Black and white swans allude to the swan’s Antipodean identity, but also to its status as a species that inhabits both northern and hemispheres in black and white forms. This crossing of hemispheres is aimed to capture possibilities of assimilation, adaption, identity and mythology, and to consider the Australian landscape as a shifting, shared environment.

These works invite reflection on how different meanings and histories can co-exist in the one place, but also on the illusory nature of painting itself and how it conceals certain meanings whilst revealing others.