Please join me at the opening of my solo exhibition IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN Wednesday 2 September 2015 from 6-9pm at 447 High Street Northcote. The exhibition runs 1-6 September from 12-6pm daily and is part of the Craft Cubed Festival and Radiant Pavilion in Melbourne. This event has disability asscess and is free and open to the public.
IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN is a contemporary multi-disciplinary project and is my latest solo exhibition, which explores the significance of handmade objects at a time where people are engrossed in digital culture and mass-produced products. We live in a highly mediated society where the online world can be argued as replacing a more authentic, tactile one. We constantly upload photos and amass ubiquitous objects to validate our existence and create memories of ideal experiences. We live in the past and create unrealistic expectations for our future, leaving us in a general state of ambivalence and melancholy. I’m interested in exploring these ideas and, in particular, ideas of inauthentic vs. authentic representation; imagery vs. object. In 2008 I began time-based investigations that attempt to find meaning in the everyday. The first, ‘The Temporary Nature of Things’ (2008) idealistically looked for beauty in the everyday, distilling daily observations into 366 jewellery pieces and artist books, The second, ‘These Moments Existed’ (2013) explored ideas of ambivalence and melancholy, by taking 365 digital photos that inspired a collection of wood and paper contemporary jewellery, which were ambiguous or ephemeral in nature. In 2015, IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST JUST BEFORE DAWN pursued the creation of authentic representations, starting with digital images, photos and video documentation of my surroundings, which have informed the creation of new and tangible contemporary art jewellery.
Academic Susan Luckman says that, “Handmade objects are imbrued with touch and…offer a sense of the ‘authentic’ in an ‘inauthentic’ world”. Digital media is often how we perceive the world; engaging with objects is how we fully understand and physically connect with it". This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. This exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour brochure designed by Liz Cox (monoprint.com.au) and features an essay by writer Ramona Barry.
