Shared Skin explores the concept of family through the lens of First Nations and culturally diverse artists. It’s a personal question for curator Rayleen Forester, who started thinking about it after starting a family of her own. “I’ve questioned what that structure looks like in art making, and how I navigate my profession as a parent,” she says. “I’ve been taken with the idea of how we build families and how they look as different structures outside of bloodlines… A lot of my work has involved working with Elders, young leaders, mothers and caretakers, looking at that idea of how we connect with one another, not only as kin to other bodies and other families, but also what that connection looks like to Country.”
Shared Skin comprises new commissions and existing works, including a video work by Jacob Boehme and the Narungga Family Choir which reimagines a section of his 2024 dance work Guuranda. Amsterdam-based Jennifer Tee’s work uses tulip petals to create Indonesian maps: “She reimagines her ancestry using the materials of her new home,” Forester explains. Atong Atem and Marikit Santiago use imagery of their family in their work: “Both have a very strong work ethic about representation of women of colour and women that are caretakers.” In curating the show, Forester ensured that artists’ time with their families was prioritised. “While institutional spaces do a great deal to involve families through public programming and workshops, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done about how that’s represented in exhibitions,” she says. “Giving some of these artists that extensive leeway to develop a work whilst they’re looking after their own families has ensured that they can do both.”
Shared Skin
Adelaide Contemporary Experimental
On now—12 April
This article was originally published in the January/February 2024 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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