In the Arctic, bacteria endemic to the region colour icebergs a gentle 1950s cocktail pink. In Antarctica a similar phenomenon lends a green tinge to the ice floes, earning them the title of ‘jadebergs’. Before boarding a Russian icebreaker in Arkhangelsk, adventurers admire inquisitive beluga whales and walruses.
When she talks about that initial trip to the Arctic it’s easy to see her awe and the “incredible light.” Except of course, a grim edge tugs at the poles. This northern summer saw sea ice come crashing to new record lows after 30 years of rapid melting.
The artist, always concerned by global issues, “from acid rain during the 1980s with my studio in Paris, and then protesting the cruise missiles at Greenham Common also in the ‘80s” as well as being a feminist, seeing the effects of ice melting first hand greatly moved Anderson. “People are watching the world around them change.”
In Journeys: Due North, the works deal with ideas of extreme travel and expedition work, but it is in the keenly realised sculptural forms which reference the nomadic existence in a world “where weather has begun to lose the cyclic seasons”, which Anderson feels closest to.
“The sculptures touch on stories of migration, of being out of place, of being the ‘arrivist’.” Weaving a folkloric story, deeply connected to the landscape, Due North hinges on Anderson’s multidisciplinary practice. “The work does not represent any particular moment, but rather the videos and sounds bring together an experience.”
Journeys: Due North
Lisa Anderson
Art Gallery of Ballarat
20 August – 2 October
French-born/Belgium-based Laure Prouvost animates her first major Australian survey with her hallmark absurdism. ‘Oui Move In You’ is showing now at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art.
Kamilaroi/Bigambul artist Archie Moore has won the Golden Lion for Best National Participation at the Venice Biennale for his monumental work, kith and kin. It marks the first time Australia has won the award in the event’s 130-year history.
Endlessly inventive, the work of Hong Kong-born, Melbourne-based artist Scotty So spans photography, painting, video work, and drag performance. With a dual exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, So talks about pageantry, begonias and queens.
With the perceived necessity of ‘performing the self’ greater than ever, comes questions of what we share or obscure—as James Barth’s art attests at the just-opened ‘18th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Inner Sanctum’ at Art Gallery of South Australia.
In a rare interview, alongside her showing in the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Tracey Moffatt talks about her penchant for the staged and surreal, going beyond identity, growing up in Brisbane and moving to New York in her thirties, and the importance of imagination.
For the 24th Biennale of Sydney, Paris-based Fondation Cartier has commissioned 14 new works by Indigenous artists across the globe, curated by renowned Kuku Yalanji artist, Tony Albert.
