Ellen Broadhurst, Jess Day & Joanne Richardson Rm1/2
Tessa Beale Window
Opening 11 Dec 2021
Exhibition continues until 17 Jan
Rm 1 & 2: Apocalyptic agency - Ellen Broadhurst, Jess Day &
Dr. Joanne Richardson
Apocalyptic agency is a response to speculative apocalyptic outcomes from three local artists, Ellen Broadhurst, Jess Day and Dr. Joanne Richardson. Since proposing this exhibition, the world and how we view it has changed drastically due to covid-19, shifting survivalism and prepping from a steadily growing niche lifestyle to an increasingly vital means of operating in the world.Apocalyptic agency combines low-fi and ad-hoc survival techniques with drawing, sculpture and video art in order to articulate speculative scenarios, a methodology at the core of survivalism. Speculative fiction is crucial to the rethinking of survival in a changed world, as such, Apocalyptic Agency proposes alternate ways of approaching survival and potential conflict.
Ellen Broadhurst (1992) is a multi-disciplinary artist working primarily in sculpture & experimental film. Interested in fiction presented as reality, Broadhurst has appeared in character in Take 5 magazine & reality tv show Trial by Kyle. Broadhurst has exhibited in Sculpture by the Sea twice & collaborated on experimental films for Fremantle Art Center, Geraldton Regional Art Gallery, Cool Change Contemporary & Pig Melon. Broadhurst was a finalist in the Young West Australian Small Business awards for co-establishing HotSoup!, a soup kitchen & exhibition space.
Jess Day is a Perth-based artist and recipient of Curtin University's Art in Conflict PhD Stipend Scholarship. Day's practice investigates survivalism, speculative fiction, conflict and divergent narratives. The Art in Conflict Stipend Scholarship is funded by the School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry at Curtin University as part of the university's contribution to the Art in Conflict Linkage project.
Joanne Richardson creates drawings and sculptural works incorporating DIY methods and humble materials to create whimsical disruptions. Richardson’s PhD work (Curtin University 2017) titled: ‘Resolutely Inclusive: Merz Art Practice and Einfuhlung’ is long but has many pictures and explores art practice as activity, weaving links between everyday life and Art concerns. Currently works as a Sessional Academic in the school of Media Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.
CRITTERLAND - Tessa Beale, w/ Daniel Harrison & Sion Prior
I n the busyness and confusion of the outside world, I found myself turning in to this one.By turning inwards and moving closer to their scale, I was able to access more readily my curiosity and adaptability.As I was handling each sheet of cold metal, shaping them and turning them into a series of life-like legs, making forms, making life forms - I grew sympathetic to their strength and vulnerability.Even though the jarrah is cut with precision, there are little opening grains and fine dotted hollows that reveal each one curve and dip. Pale and red spots, burnt out hollows, slight changes in gradient. Perhaps this is the critter’s doing? Perhaps it is the weather? Nevertheless, they approach with curiosity.
Tessa Beale is engaged in a material practice. Her work investigates the potential of material properties to explore ideas of transformation and transition working across the mediums of print, drawing, metal, sculpture and photography. She does this by extracting particular qualities, properties and characteristics, changing the scale at which things are observed and establishing new contexts for these observations. She currently works from her studio at the East Perth Power Station, Western Australia having previously undertaken both solo and collaborative residencies at SIM in Reykjavik, Iceland, Fremantle Arts Centre and Midland Junction Arts Centre.
Daniel Harrison is a musician/composer based in Perth, Western Australia. He has recently completed his studies in Jazz Performance at WAAPA and has performed both nationally and internationally. Daniel has also performed on and co-produced several EP’s/Albums, displaying a variety of playing styles and colours. Daniel’s compositional approach involves minimalist melodic fragments married with the complexity of natural soundscapes, designed to produce an intimate experience for the listener.
Sion Prior is a writer and artist in Perth, Western Australia. He relishes finding ways to produce writing and poetry in collaboration with other visual artists. Through his work he tries to explore the profound and the profane.