16/08/24 - 21/09/24
FIRST SPACE
thiyana
thiyana explores the cultural harvests and seasonal indicators of winter.
This is a body of work that began with personal and communal collection of natural materials, these harvests facilitating reconnection to seasonal and celestial indicators of country. Central to the harvests was the arrival of the pangalina stars as the key marker of the season. Each piece emerged from the processing of native fibres, clay, ochres and furs - using free and open experimentation with both traditional and contemporary techniques to create the works.
For me, through utilising a creative process centred around connecting to the seasonal cycles and rhythms of country, the works become not only artistic expression but objects of story sharing and cultural revitalization, which is a priority in my practice.
INNER SPACE
Process//Repeat//Paint
Snéhi Jarvis
Mentored by Zara Sully.
I work with ochre, a mark-making material used for millennia, whose beauty manifests through processing the rock to pigment then to paint. We work together - me and the ochre; a wonder-filled experience of making art that can be returned to the Earth as biological nutrients. There is no inequity. I find, then process the rock, and the ochre reveals its colour. The fine pigment is made into pastel sticks, tempera paint blocks ready to mix with egg yolk, and paint blocks ready for watercolour painting; each requiring different making processes and different methods of application.
I am grateful to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for allowing me to forage for ochre, without which I could not have progressed my practice. This exhibition is dedicated to ochre; a way of saying thank you for the gifts I have received from its revealing, and the way ochre is teaching me how to paint.
Snéhi Jarvis was the winner of the Sawtooth ARI Honours Prize at the University of Tasmania.
BACK SPACE
From the Subterranean: We Come.
From the Subterranean: We Come is a site-specific installation at Sawtooth, responding to its industrial complex and natural ecosystems. The project addresses soil pollution, land management, the perseverance of subterranean ecosystems. It centers on a narrative across human-crustacean-hybrid species, sparking curiosity about a plausible evolution and how such a subterranean society might thrive. Connecting art and audience, celebrating resilience, reclamation, and conservation of the subterranean world.
THE SPACE
Tasmanian Birds
A selection of twelve Tasmanian native birds; this series is a study in aesthetics and personal preference. The twelve birds and their native flora backgrounds were selected based on their natural colours and features. Several can be spotted in a backyard garden, many more on a walk and others only in their unique native habitats.
This series also aims to draw attention to the ongoing plight of our native bird species. Their fragility from our ever-encroaching desire for more at the destruction of their homes and habitats. In a small way, this series also draws attention to the ongoing struggles that Tasmania faces in the conflict between heavy industry, the provision of jobs and political advancement against that which we should hold most dear, our environment and those that call these places home.