Thanks for your service…. Ashes to Ashes. Rust to Dust.
Maya Angus When travelling through the small country towns on a trip to Canberra, I began to notice a recurring image when passing each farm. In the fields sat old, rusted, broken down farm machines. Why are they still here? Why have they not been moved on? Maybe after hours and hours of service, through experience after experience they become more than just machines. These expensive and important investments have helped through good and tough times. Possibly unable to be let go of these loyal servants they rust away in farm ‘graveyards’. |
Personification
Blake Browning I love cars with the older ones being my favourite. I believe that all older cars have personality with some having more personality than others. I have created three works that display the connection between the man made aspects of a car and that something that gives them some kind of human quality. For me, one of the many older cars that drive on this earth and have the most personality is the Volkswagen Beetle. Even though the ‘Love Bug; Herbie’ was a Volkswagen Beetle, I think there's more to the cars personality then just the fictional movies. |
A Stitch in Time
Anthea Joshua The stitching represents a physical manifestation of the time taken for nature to develop and grow. This is hugely contrasted by the short time taken for mankind to destroy it. It explores the evidence of the hand and of time, as well as the complacency of much of society to the ever increasing impact of climate change. The method of stitching then becomes a representation of time passing and the artwork is testament to that, like a physical manifestation of time. Each stitch is also a recording of the maker's thoughts and emotions. The duality of embroidery, in its movements, every stitch made seems to unfold a story and withhold it at the same time. The cave is symbolic of the narrow minded view on climate change from society. |
Momentum
Grace Gilbert Motorsport is seen as a masculine pastime filled with sweat, speed, strength and aggression. Racing is about reflex and concentration and calculated feats of abandon. These are qualities that are not restricted to either sex. Often the objectified and submissive female figure is seen as incapable of handling and excelling in the world of motorsport. In my Body of Work, I have explored the unusual phenomenon that when racing at my fastest everything seems to slow down and the fast paced, intense and almost violent environment is transformed into a feeling of suspension. Horizontal becomes vertical, acceleration and braking become ascending and descending. |
Your gaze…
Stare off! Laura Wilson Traditional depictions of women in art throughout history have often shown an averted gaze conveying notions of submission. Many modern women do not buy into this history and refuse to be defined by the wants and needs of men. The male gaze seeking to judge and subjugate is reflected back at the source and perpetrator. |
Adrift (Floating Free)
Lucy Guan I was drawn to expressing my personal experiences through self portraiture. My Type 1 Diabetes diagnoses is an almost constant presence in my life. The water provides for me a freedom and serenity I get in no other way. It is the only time I am free from being attached to the insulin pump that keeps me well. For these all too brief moments I am able to detach and forget about my condition and the daily struggles that come with it. |
Real World Intrusions
A Raven Came from the Citadel Returning from the Trade Markets Headshot Lucy Miller My works delve into how games enable individuals to explore imagination as a way to escape their real world. Because of how integrated gaming and technology has now become in our everyday lives, I have staged my friend as a fantasy character that I designed and translated her personality to. This work stems from my personal passion and belief in how constructive, critical and beautiful the art of this digital world is. Real World Intrusions also aims to communicate how a form of escape might be able to be used to face the real world. |
Night Season Bobcat on a Porch Close-up of Garfield Sarah McCarthy David Konigsberg is an artist who paints all types of genres, such as animals (including cats), people, places and farm landscapes and I have taken my inspiration from his paintings. These two artworks of Bobcat and Garfield show sophisticated handling of paint and expressionistic gestures showing the cats relaxing, stretching, waking up, yawning before going on cat hunts and sleeping during the night and day. |
Under Pressure/Under Water Zofia Mara For many people swimming or being in a body of water gives them a sense of freedom and relaxation. For me I drown in the pressures. The constant expectations, struggles to achieve and the constant competition. Previously being a competitive swimmer, I am drawn to the concept of never being good enough, no matter how hard I push myself, no matter how much I train. My hard effort and determination never quiet pushes me enough to hit the wall first. There are many struggles suggested in Under Pressure: the struggle of not being able to breathe when racing and the struggle for air after I hit the wall, the struggle to push myself a little harder, kick a little faster and hold my breath for a little longer, and other experiences of “drowning” that have nothing at all to do with being under water. I want the audience to be able to feel what I feel, the struggle for success, the struggle for air, the heartache of never being good enough, coming last, the pain that my muscles endure, the feeling of drowning and trying to get to the surface. |
Echo/She Watches Herself Being Looked at
Savannah Rooke In art history “men act, and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. Thus she turns herself into an object.... An object of vision.” Vanity and pressure to be perfect is an entrenched social expectation and we witness it everywhere in a manner that is both subtle and overt. The social media platform has furthered this echo of empty beauty as it exposes youth to such ideas earlier, extending the corruption of our values and morals. At a time when they feel most vulnerable in terms of self image, youth look to change themselves and adapt to the beauty of the ideal captured in the world of “on demand” media. However, from these expectations formed, youth have also crafted a narcissistic attitude to their appearance. Echo/ She watches herself being looked at encapsulates the perceived importance of physical appearance and the degree to which adolescent females measure their own beauty against social expectations and create an appearance that conforms to them. We see this enacted in social media all the time as the subject’s self-consciousness is coupled with their desire to be looked at. It is interesting to notice that as time passes in the transitioning from child to adult, so too does the focus on beauty for the purpose of pleasing others. A certain self- acceptance is attained. |
Putting a Lid On It
Elizabeth Cornish Us humans all have fears and anxieties that we tend to keep to ourselves. Anxious feelings that overwhelm us, don’t go away easily, and some have it worse than others. They are present in our daily lives and sometimes consume us and control our minds. We tend to keep these feelings hidden in a dark place, lurking around the edges of our lives, waiting for a moment to strike. This artwork is dark and foreboding which depicts the effect these fears and anxieties can have. What is not visible is the writing, lists of words on the scrunched up paper. Hidden from view, they are the fears and anxieties collected from different people, fears that are normally hidden and bottled up. |
The Towers of Babel
Eilish O’Sullivan When faced with tasks or responsibilities that we are unwilling to accept, we often go out of our way to avoid them and put them off for as long as possible, in any way we can. In doing so, we only end up making things more difficult for ourselves. The Towers of Babel explores the ramifications of unfinished business. The weight of the countless things we leave undone eventually becomes suffocating. The towering, imperfect buildings represent this almost claustrophobic anxiety. The sooner we confront these responsibilities that tower over us, the sooner we can be free from their weight. And yet we continue to avoid them, to put them off until another day, until these things become impossible to ignore and we must confront them. |