Refugees at Casula Powerhouse sheds light on to one of the most highly publicised areas of Australian politics: the ongoing refugee crisis. Each of the 22 artists exhibiting have refugee backgrounds, spanning several continents and conflicts. Curator Toni Bailey views this topic as a “blindingly obvious” choice for an exhibition, saying that the statistics on refugees speak for themselves. “Australia only receives 0.29% of the world’s refugees and over 90% of people who arrive here by boat are found to be genuine refugees,” she explains, “and we are legally bound to protect them.”
High profile international artists such as Yoko Ono, Anish Kapoor, Mona Hatoum, Marc Chagall, Lucian Freud and Ai Wei Wei will exhibit next to local artists such as Guo Jian, Inge King, Ah Xian, Aida Tomescu and Anne Zahalka. In many cases it will be the first time some of their works have been seen in Western Sydney. Bailey comments, “My hope is that hearing about how many of these now famous artists escaped life-threatening situations by being incredibly brave and showing enormous strength will remind us that we should be treating people with the compassion they deserve.”
In Refugees, the stories behind the works are as significant as the works themselves. Yoko Ono was exiled from Tokyo during the firebombing of 9 March 1945; Frank Auerbach’s parents went on to die in a Nazi concentration camp after they put him on a train to the UK when he was just seven years old; and Dinh Q. Lê escaped from the Khmer Rouge in 1978 when he was only 10 years old.
“By talking about the courage and the strength of these artists and celebrating what they have been able to achieve I’m hoping there will be constructive and positive conversations that happen,” Bailey says, “But at the same time, I don’t want to shy away from the confronting conversations: I want to address the misconceptions and face up to the ugly truths.” Refugees is a depiction of strength and courage, challenging its audiences while encouraging compassion and understanding.
Refugees
Casula Powerhouse
30 July – 11 September
65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art is an extraordinary account of the unique art of this continent, published alongside a landmark exhibition at the Potter Museum of Art. Necessary and urgent, it tells the story of Indigenous Australian art; a new art history unlike anything we’ve seen. For Jane O’Sullivan, it’s a remarkable and must-read book.
In a new series of illustrated postcards available as a free gift with purchase only at the Art Guide Bookstore, Oslo Davis takes on classic and contemporary art terms and genres and reimagines what they could be referring to.
With so much to choose from, we’ve rounded up the major summer exhibitions in each capital city, open all summer long. Spanning Yayoi Kusama, Magritte, the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, and many more.
A new exhibition at the Australian National Capital Artists Inc (ANCA) asks 12 artists—including Dan Powers, S.A.Adair, Emma Beer and Lisa Sammut—to explore scale: from the miniature to the monumental.
In her latest exhibition at THIS IS NO FANTASY, Ellen Dahl presents works from an ongoing photographic series that has captured many sites—from the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard to Tasmania—creating a dialogue between works that center place.
bagan bariwariganyan: echoes of country, curated by Jonathan Jones and now showing at Bundanon, highlights a long history of Indigenous art on the New South Wales south coast, with works and installations from Jones, Aunty Julie Freeman, Aunty Cheryl Davison, and Mickey of Ulladulla.
