The Board of NorthSite Contemporary Arts, Acting Director Michael Marzik and staff welcome you to attend the opening event for Donna Davis When A Tree Falls & Kate Robertson Kuna Siuwai Pokong – Medicinal Plants from Siwai.
Friday 07 May 2021
6:00 pm Arrival at Bulmba-ja, NorthSite Contemporary Arts
6:30 pm Welcome to Country by Carl Fourmile of Minjil
6:45 pm Opened by Ashleigh Campbell Director NorthSite Contemporary Arts
Bar will be open from 6:00 pm
Click here to RSVP by 6 May 2021
Please note: This is strictly a ticketed event. All guests must RSVP for COVID Contract Tracing Records and to ensure the maximum capicity of 1 person per 2sq mtrs in the gallery for social distancing.
If you would like to book a ticket for a friend or family member (including children) please RSVP for each person separately with their name and contact email or forward the eventbrite link so they may RSVP personally.
If you book a ticket and are unable to attend, please cancel your ticket so that it becomes available for another booking.
Once you have booked a ticket you will recieve an email confirmation of your booking and your name will be added to the guest list.
This event complies with Stage 6 Queensland State Government COVID safe guidelines.
A little more about the exhibitions,
Kate Robertson Kuna Siuwai Pokong – Medicinal Plants from Siwai
This exhibition chronicles plants and their medicinal properties from the Siwai region of Bougainville Island, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea, through photographic light recordings.
Concerned with the erosion of tacit traditional medicinal knowledge, Chief Alex Dawia of the Taa Lupumoiku Clan approached and invited Australian artist Kate Robertson to chronicle Siwai plant knowledge for preservation. Chief Jeffrey Noro of the Rura Clan, also from Siwai, joined their efforts, motivated by similar concerns to preserve tacit knowledge systems and provide positive recognition of their region.
Over five years, the project has evolved to include photographic prints, an embroidered fabric panel and a published book to explore how cross-cultural projects can provide mutual benefits through repatriation and transparency. Ultimately, it is a holistic inquiry into how we might work together across territorial borders, cultures and skillsets to achieve a shared future.
Donna Davis When A Tree Falls
This playful yet reflective exhibition speaks of climate-induced flora displacement, hidden ecological players and the human; exploring imagined ecological-adaptations, ecological hierarchies and the idea of kin.
The works respond to current artist-residencies embedded within state and international science projects based in far North Queensland that explore the issue of rising temperatures from different perspectives. There is a long history of artists documenting scientific endeavors, however this exhibition extends beyond documentation, using sculpture, stop-frame animation, digital media, and installation to explore interspecies relationships and perceived notions of hierarchy within ecological systems.
Both residencies examine the issue of climate change; the Tropical Mountain Plant Science project, led by the Australian Tropical Herbarium, is a result of consequence, undertaking a real-time rescue mission to save vulnerable mountain top flora from extinction with project partners cultivating the rescued plants in temperate zone Botanic Gardens, thousands of kilometres from their natural home. Whereas, the Wood, Termite, Fungi project, led by George Washington University, examines hidden players in the carbon cycle to model impacts of rising temperatures on the decomposition cycle.
The main theme that flows through the exhibition is ecological cause and effect through a multi-species lens, examining human and nonhuman hierarchal structures; ultimately seeking to empower a call to action to reconsider how we treat our kin, of all species.
We look forward to welcoming you to the Gallery!
NorthSite Team
Image Credits:
Donna Davis, Displaced [TransPLANT IV] (detail), (animation still), 2021, single channel video installation
Kate Robertson, HONDO (detail), 2016, archival pigment print, 28 x 48 cm