WHEN : 27th Jan, 6:30-9:30pm
WHERE : Woolloongabba Art Gallery, 613 Stanley St Woolloongabba Qld
FLOAT~ OUT OF ADVERSITY COMES SHEER JOY ~ An exhibition which CHALLENGES DEFEAT AND CELEBRATES LIFE, the creative innovation of GHOSTNETS AUSTRALIA alongside emerging Brisbane artist, JOANNAH UNDERHILL.
GHOST NETS are lost or abandoned fishing nets, tangling endangered species and drowning them as they travel the worldʼs oceans. Made from non-degradable materials, they can continue this murderous cycle for years. GhostNets Australia, an alliance of 22 indigenous communities from across coastal northern Australia, together with rangers and volunteers,gather the nets as they wash up onour northernmost shores, distributing them to remote Indigenous communities. There, they are turned into a range of REMARKABLE colourful and creative works that commemorate life on the sea’s edge.
Artists from GhostNets Australia & Erub Erwer Meta (Darnley Island Arts Centre) have transformed this lethal trash into fabulous, colourful baskets and sculptural artworks, ranging from a giant fish & an octopus to a traditional Torres Straits Menʼs headdress.
JOANNAH UNDERHILLʼS paintings present a blooming, fertile landscape of cellular growth, rejuvenation and healing. Equally as vibrant and celebratory as the Ghostnets works, Johanna is clearly drawn to the ‘eccentric beauty of wild Australia ‘, which she references “with the curious fascination of an alien landing in paradise”. Diagnosed with cancer whilst living in London, the young artist fled home to Australia, to paint her way to health. Her sense of colour and joyous abandon bring “imagery from the sub-conscious mind to float to the surface and manifest as living, breathing possibilities in the realm of the new.”
EXHIBITION DATES: 27 January ~ 24 February 2012
