(Left) Sue Pedley, 2021, Rope Work, ink, pastel, 115x90cm. (Centre) Sylvia Griffin, Rupture, 2021, Carrara marble, charcoal, timber stand. (Right) Penny Coss, Meteorite (soft fall), 2020, graphite on aluminium, 240x63cm.
OPENING EVENT: Wednesday 27 April from 6:00pm at ANCA Gallery. Free to attend, no bookings required.
ARTIST TALK: Sunday 15 May 2:00-3:00pm. Free to attend, no bookings required.
This exhibition features the work of three artists whose research-based practices have a strong focus on material experimentation. Their material language speaks generally to the idea of impermanence, bodily traces, memory, and loss. This often involves references to geological evolution, deep time and the effects of transformation over time. For each artist, the physical engagement of ‘making’ is an important aspect of this work.
Sue Pedley’s work embraces the geological evolution of the land and its natural history. Pedley considers herself to be an artist of ‘place’, forging connections between a site, its overlooked qualities - as well as the relationship that place may have to other places – and to other histories and cultures. For this exhibition, Sue Pedley experiments with visualising a philosophical and ecological text, Of Knots and Joints, written by social anthropologist Tim Ingold. Rope Work are drawings and objects relating to memory, space, architecture and the materiality of carpentry and textiles.
Penny Coss’s installation centres on a site that underwent a dramatic change after fire swept through it and attempts to synthesise material and emotional histories with the possibilities of making something new. The site in recovery extends to the idea of the presence of the body in alignment with a bruised topography where colour acts as a signifier.
This draws parallels with the bruising intimated by Sylvia Griffin’s Second Skin paintings. With an interest in memorial culture and expressing grief and trauma, Griffin explores the concept of permanence, as commonly associated with memorials. In this exhibition she considers the dichotomy between the natural origins of associated memorial materials such as marble, acknowledging their geological origins and relationship to landscape.
ARTIST TALK: Sunday 15 May 2022 2:00-3:00pm
Join Sylvia Griffin, Sue Pedley and Penny Coss as they walk through the gallery and discuss their works, followed by refreshments in the outdoor atrium. Penny Coss will give a presentation linking her work in show to her encounters over 15 years with a local bushland and the implications of remembering, empathy and loss through her observations of its recovery after a fire swept through it. Sylvia Griffin will address how memorialising and expressing grief threads through her work and the important role materiality plays in this work. Sue Pedley will discuss the ongoing themes of place and environment in her work and how the new strand the works in this exhibition relate to this.
Sylvia Griffin’s multi-disciplinary practice ranges across sculpture, installation, textiles, video and photography. Her work addresses trauma, memory and history and seeks to challenge preconceived notions around identity, memory and the role of ritual. Her research considers artistic alternatives to the role that monuments and memorials have traditionally played in expressing grief and mourning, believing that ephemeral and alternative forms of art can aid in imparting meaningful remembrance and solace.
Sue Pedley is a visual artist recognised for her multimedia installations, large scale drawings and collaborations. She exhibits her work across outdoor locations, galleries and museums. Responsive to the contingencies of the sites where she works, her recurring themes include the environmental degradation of water and its impact on communities and the natural world; colonisation, including addressing her family history as settlers in Tasmania; and the intergenerational hurts of war.
Penny Coss’ work is a response to the natural world, its geology, biology and botany, with oblique references to landscape systems in extremis like earthquakes, bushfires and algal bloom. Coss works intuitively in the studio, open to the unexpected connections encountered in her work. Emerging from a painting based practice, recent work spans sculpture, installation, often incorporating video and sound, indicating iterative possibilities in creating a whole.