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september 26 - october 14

giants

Jackie Ralph

Following on from her successful exhibition in 2005, Jackie Ralph continues to explore themes of cultural identity and cultural disconnection through her paintings of Japanese Sumo wrestlers. 

Ralph’s interest in Sumo wrestlers began while she was living in Japan.  The wrestlers live in a world virtually unaffected by modern Japan.  Everything they do is dictated by history and tradition.  Ralph is interested not only in the way Sumo wrestlers move, but also in their cultural forms which remain mostly unaffected by globalization.

In this exhibition, Ralph presents the wrestlers in a state of mental preparation.  Each giant is engaged in the ritualistic act of throwing salt, which is a process of purification that occurs moments before a bout. 

Ralph has titled this exhibition Giants, not due to their size, but because the Sumo are giants in history, having survived for thousands of years, with their culture intact.

Jackie Ralph recently completed a Masters Degree in Fine Art at the Victorian College of the Arts.  She has exhibited in Japan and Victoria. 

arcane    

by Annette Cook, Steve Cox, Daniel Dorall + Loretta Quinn

This exhibition brings together four artists who trained in separate disciplines – a sculptor, a printmaker, an architect and a painter. Each investigates elements of the arcane, conjuring poetic personal worlds at once familiar, yet deeply mysterious.

There is a sense of nostalgia that permeates the works, often nostalgia for an unknowable past. The viewer is presented glimpses of fragmented dreams.

Here we find intimations of lost worlds: crofters’ cottages sealed permanently in time; a thylacine pelt carried aloft in the beaks of birds; children lost forever in a maze and a brigade of scarecrows.

The works are shrouded in mystery. They give up their secrets gradually, allowing the viewer to bring his or her own stories to the mix.