The John Curtin Gallery presents Post-hybrid: reimagining the Australian self, an exhibition of works that explore notions of identity and belonging in Australian contemporary culture.
The exhibition features work by established Australian artists Abdul Abdullah (NSW), Abdul-Rahman Abdullah (WA), Hans Arkeveld (WA), Dadang Christanto (NT), Lorraine Connelly-Northey (VIC), Brenda Croft (NSW), Galliano Fardin (WA), Elizabeth Gertsakis (VIC), Danie Mellor (NSW), Laurel Nannup (WA), Christopher Pease (WA), Ryan Presley (QLD), Darren Siwes (SA).
Through photographs, sculptural works, paintings and prints the exhibition explores ways in which colonisation, Aboriginal culture and migration have contributed to an ever- evolving sense of contemporary Australian identity.
The work of Indigenous artists represented in this exhibition has a strong post-colonial perspective, describing an experience of the world in which indigenous culture has been deeply impacted by white settlement. In other works, personal and public stories emerge as a result of the policy of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, describing not only a loss of loved ones and displacement from traditional lands, but also loss of access to personal history and culture.
For a number of artists, events such as post-war migration, the end to the White Australia Policy, the
politicisation of asylum seekers and 9/11 emerge as important factors that have not only impacted
on the social fabric of Australia as a whole, but have contributed to a very personal sense of self.
Other artists in Post-Hybrid explore the conflation of their multi-faceted ethnic heritage and how
different cultures have come together to form something new.
Whether looking at self, landscape, society or culture, there is a sense of searching, mapping,
remembering, of delving in and laying down of evidence.
While this exhibition explores some of ways in which a number of artists living and working in
Australia, perceive this place, and their place or sense of self within it, it does not attempt to define
‘Australianism’; nor do the artists try to provide answers to the complex issues of personal, ethnic
and cultural identity. Rather, a commonality to their work is a speculative approach, as they
variously ponder: who am I; why did this happen; what does this mean and where are we going?
Post-hybrid: reimagining the Australian self runs in conjunction with Foreign Soil, a major solo
exhibition by multi-disciplinary artist Thea Costantino, which offers an alternative narrative for the
centenary of the First World War. Costantino reflects on the international tragedy of the war and the
legacy of migrant histories within Australia that exist alongside the ANZAC story.
For further information visit the John Curtin Gallery website or the Gallerys facebook page.
