Dissecting Disruption

The exhibition theme ‘disruption’, has been explored divergently by the exhibiting artists. Using the four artworks above as ‘Unseen Images’ investigate how each artist has responded to the theme. You might want to consider starting with the symbolism and imagery used by the artists in each print. Unpack the image by thinking about the following: 

• What could the chandelier symbolise in Janet Parker-Smith’s Motion Gravitas? 

• How are politics symbolised in Ruth Cho’s Bull headed rhetoric? 

• What objects do you see in Faheem T Ahmad’s The land of hope?

• Which elements of Yanin Phkthin’s Dreams come true create a sense of intimacy and personal experience?

Below are three other approaches to the theme of ‘disruption’. Using the 16albermarle Project Space website, find these prints and interpret the symbols, colours and subject matter the artists have used to convey their ideas: 

1. Joshua Copland Nielson’s work reflects key tenets in his Masters research around archiving grief and the temporal lapses that the loss of those we love can produce. He focuses on analogue imaging to consider how memory is mediated through technological discourse. 

2. Shani Black’s Westconnext revisted, which reflects on the iconography of our time – ‘our Gladys.’ Reframed through the history poses of old paintings, Shani inverts the auratic work of the past with the political urgency of now. 

3. Distance by Dr Tim Mosely and Pamela See’s Consuming Happiness (both from the Queensland College of Art) extend the tradition of papermaking and papercutting into challenging new arenas. Mosely’s research is at the forefront of a resurgence of papermaking in contemporary pedagogic spaces.