After the Monsoonal Deluge is an artwork by Brian Robinson, animated by Russell Milledge for Cairns Regional Council public art in Cairns City.
Artist Statement: Plants, sunshine, humid nights, insects, frogs and more plants. The word ‘tropical’ conjures up images of luxuriant foliage, exotic shapes, enticing textures and bold colours. After the Monsoonal Deluge is best expressed through the tropical garden – a haven of refuge, retreat and relaxation that offers the greatest opportunities for a sense of place, both instantly recognisable and part of our landscape heritage.
After the Monsoonal Deluge references the abundance of plant life and flowers that are found grown everywhere in profusion across Tropical North Queensland, an area in the country that braces for the monsoon season year after year.
In the Eastern Torres Strait, this season, which is known as koki kerker is generally a time of heavy rain during which there is luxuriant growth. In the Western Torres Strait, it is known as kuki, when the strong winds blew intermittently from the north-west accompanied by deluges of rain. The seasonal calendar of Torres Strait life reflects the changes in the seas, the winds, the stars and the land, and moves through cycles of abundance and scarcity, renewal and harvest, wet and dry.
Star constellations are of significant importance to the Islanders who use them to encode nature’s relative predictability into mythological narratives like Usiam, a cluster of seven stars that are more commonly known as Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, a time of planting. These narratives epitomise the cosmology or sense of understanding of one’s place in the universe and as island cultures that are dependent on sedentary agriculture and fishing, hey allow the stars, the winds and the tides to set the pace.
Intimate Worlds
(GROUP EXHIBITION) ARTISTS Kim Nolan / Danish Quapoor / Lois Hayes / Bunda Art / Malki Studio / Anne Jillett : Intimate Worlds – (Foyer Wall)
This exhibition will showcase artists that display a dedication to process, and respect + deep curiosity for materials. This is where art meet design, by providing artists with an opportunity to showcase their expanded practice. These makers tend to work away quietly away from the outside world, in more intimate spaces. They re-emerge from their studios with refined bodies of work; reflections of their own INTIMATE WORLDS.
Cristina Bevilacqua: SKIN
SKIN is a photographic project which celebrates bodily imperfections and promotes self-acceptance and worth in an era of unrealistic beauty standards and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Working with Cairns residents as her subjects, SKIN reflects artist Cristina Bevilacqua’s commitment to using art as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue and societal transformation.
SKIN is supported by the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF), a partnership between the Queensland Government and Cairns Shire Council.
Luke Aleksandrow: The Break Collection: Sounds of the Tropics
In the third instalment of The Break Collection: Sounds of the Tropics, Topaz based artist Luke Aleksandrow presents an installation documenting the breakage of ceramics made by far north Queensland artists within the rainforest soundscape. An accompanying ambient track composed by Tom Allum (WA) in response to the breaks, sounds and silences of Aleksandrow’s recordings is played back into the landscape.
This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia and administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance. NorthSite Contemporary Arts is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. The organisation is also supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
Jill Chism : Remnants
Remnants is an exhibition of installation, assemblage and mixed media works by Oak Beach artist Jill Chism. Selected existing works will be presented in dialogue with new works, contextualising Jill’s career as an artist working in Far North Queensland since the early 1990s. Rather than a dystopian view of the planet, Chism’s material investigations question our inevitable relationship with what remains of the natural world. Chism offers another, existential possibility of moving away from the cultural trance of separateness and materialism, towards an understanding of our connectedness, to each other and the cosmos.
This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia and administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance. Additionally it received support from the Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) with Douglas Shire Council. NorthSite Contemporary Arts is assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its principal arts investment and advisory body. The organisation is also supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland.
Women’s Business – CIAF Booth 1
NorthSite at CIAF 2024 Women’s Business – Booth 1, Cairns Convention Centre.
During the annual Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (Thursday 25 July – Sunday 28 July), NorthSite presents an exhibition of new prints and weaving by artist Ivy Minniecon (Kuku Yalanji, Kabi Kabi, Gooreng Gooreng and Vanuatu) developed with Dian Darmansjah at NorthSite Art Studios, alongside paintings by her Aunty and mentor, Karen Gibson. The display at CIAF STALL 1 titled ‘Women’s Business’ reflects the importance of women staying strong and connected to Country, family, and community.
A number of other artworks by female Aboriginal artists from Western Cape York have been selected in response to the concept of women’s business, put forward by Ivy Minniecon and Karen Gibson. Additional independent artists showing paintings and weavings on the NorthSite Booth at CIAF 2024 include Heather Koowootha, Rhonda Woolla, Jean Wallembeng & Daphne De Jersey.
Check out NorthSite at CIAF 2024 Women’s Business exhibition and the full Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, CIAF 2024 Program.
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Text by Nicola Hooper
“Women’s Business” is a collaboration between two formidable First Nations artists, Karen Gibson and Ivy Minniecon. Their works combine their artistic voices, steeped in cultural heritage, and incorporate narratives that echo through generations. Presented at CIAF by NorthSite, this exhibition invites viewers on a journey where traditional and personal stories are interwoven with their exceptional skills.
The title “Women’s Business” reflects on ceremonial Indigenous traditional practices. It refers to the sacred knowledge and obligations that First Nations women typically hold within their communities.
Karen Gibson is from the Kuku Yalanji and Kuku Nyungkul tribe. She brings a captivating approach to “Women’s Business”. Her vibrant and evocative acrylic paintings capture the essence of traditional practices and her family’s stories. Her whimsical paintings such as Mukirr Dance, were inspired by memories of her mum and aunties, swimming in the Daintree River, feeling the bottom with their feet, and gathering mussels into their brilliantly coloured dresses. Wait for Tide explores the ebb and flow of tidal changes and the vital role of water in her Community. These narratives resonate with joy and reflect a deep respect for her family and Country.
“I believe God has given me this gift to transform art into a story that only comes from the mind, heart, and life experiences.”
Fellow Kuku Yalanji artist Ivy Minniecon is also a descendant of Kabi Kabi, Gooreng Gooreng and South Sea Islander peoples and anchors her artistic practice in a deep reverence for her ancestral lands. Born in Lowmead, Queensland, and later drawn to her Mother’s Country at Mossman. Ivy’s journey is reflected in her mastery of the Kuku Yalanji weave. Her traditional skirts were created under the guidance of knowledge keeper Romona Baird, using fibres from Country in a plaited weave. Ivy has taken these skirts through a complex process of indexically mono-printing onto paper, in each unique print the skirt dances on the paper. The grass mirrors that of vessels and veins running through the work as if they were touched by her ancestors who would have worn them. These skirts and accompanying prints act as a conduit that speaks to their ceremonial applications and the wearer’s role as a knowledge keeper within their community.
“The heart of my practice looks at holistic ideas of art and culture being intrinsically linked to our identity. Creating the skirt and then experimenting in the print studio with differing techniques has invigorated and extended my studio practice, and it is an honour to have relocated home and to be mentored by a key Yalanji knowledge keeper. Aunty Karen was my inspiration as a young artist. Her extensive studio diversity inspired my practice. I am also grateful to collaborative printmaker Dian Darmansjah, who graciously shared his expertise and knowledge in the print studio.”
Gibson and Minniecon preserve and revitalise cultural practices and stories to ensure they are never lost. “Women’s business” reiterates what women’s business is all about, the sharing of knowledge and skills. Their collaboration is not only a tribute to their heritage but also a powerful testament to the resilience and creativity of Indigenous art and traditional cultural practices today. Visitors are encouraged to reflect on how contemporary First Nations artists navigate the complexities of balancing the preservation of traditional practices. Karen and Ivy demonstrate how art can act as a bridge between the past, present, and future and the sharing of knowledge and collaboration is central to their views on reciprocation. Their works invite us to appreciate the enduring significance of ‘Women’s Business’ in today’s world.
With thanks to Regional Arts Fund through Flying Arts Alliance that supported Ivy to produce new monotypes for CIAF 2024, working at NorthSite studios with collaborative printmaker Dian Darmansjah.
This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance.
ALL COME UNDER – CIAF Satellite Exhibition at Cairns Court House Gallery
A CIAF satellite Independent Exhibition at Cairns Court House Gallery
Exhibition: Thursday 18 July – Saturday 17 August
Launch: 2pm, Wednesday 24 July
Performance: 3.30pm, Wednesday 24 July
All Come Under is an exhibition by a collaboration of artists. Their friendship and respect for each other are collegial and affirm the power of creative expression to communicate.
When listening to Country, we all come under the relevance and currency of Indigenous cultural authority. Deep-seated governance systems established by Aboriginal people allow the respectful inhabitation of environments, land, water, and sky. It is essential that an ongoing connection and relationship to the Country, as experienced by the ancestors of this land, is again allowed to flourish. It is an opportunity to allow Country to speak to us.
Zane Saunders lives in Kuranda, Far North Queensland and is an Indigenous visual artist and performer, a descendant of Butchulla, Gunggari and Jarrowia People. Darren Blackman is an Gureng Gureng/Gangalu visual and sound artist. Bonemap’s Rebecca Youdell and Russell Milledge are partners who collaborate in producing dance, visual arts, and media arts.
The artists acknowledge the support of the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, Cairns Regional Council and NorthSite Contemporary Arts. This project was made possible by the Australian Government’s Regional Arts Fund, provided through Regional Arts Australia, administered in Queensland by Flying Arts Alliance
Vernon Ah Kee : way to be
In July 2022, Vernon Ah Kee was invited by Deadly Innovation (part of Queensland Government’s Advance Queensland) to develop a proposal for a project that could be an exhibition outcome featuring the Rock Art of Magnificent Gallery. The initial activity Vernon participated in was a ‘tech tour’ facilitated by KJR Enterprises and Jarramali Rock Art Tours. This involved spending 4 days traveling through Western Yalanji country alongside rangers and technologists. This year, Vernon further participated in a full-day Intellectual Property Workshop in Cairns with the Western Yalanji Corporation and stakeholders.
way to be explores the way in which we view and interact with cultural heritage sites such as the Western Yalanji galleries, using various technologies.
Growing up in Far North Queensland in the 1970s and 1980s, artist Vernon Ah Kee recalls the figures of the Magnificent Gallery were ever-present to the cultural backdrop of the day:
“I remember Cairns transformed itself from a sugar and fishing town in the 1970s into a tourism destination in the 1980s. The iconography of Western Yalanji Rock Art, in particular the images of Magnificent Gallery became an underpinning to that transformation. It was found on everything you could think of – tea towels, fridge magnets, postcards, t-shirts.”
The overexposure of Magnificent Gallery during that early tourism boom in Far North Queensland, led to a desensitisation of audiences to its scale and significant cultural heritage value. way to be seeks to provide an opportunity for audiences to think about rock art in new ways. Within an art context, way to be explores the way in which art and technology can intersect. The exhibition posits the potential of data-sets being created over coming decades as technologies grow in complexity.
way to be provides an opportunity to demonstrate to different audiences, new ideas and fresh conversations about the way to think about rock art. Ideas of rock art exist generally through the lens of tourism and ‘the colonial’. For many audiences, rock art is an abstract to a perceived ‘ancient’ society.
way to be seeks to provide a new lens and new way of engaging with data-sets through various technology lenses. These new ways of seeing and being include seeing data through multi-spectral colour analysis. Ground-penetrating lasers provide new ways of looking at the surrounding terrain to see what impact ochre has, and an examination to identify traces of biological matter and DNA.
Through way to be Magnificent Gallery defines and presents itself … a way to be.
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About the Artist
Vernon Ah Kee is a Brisbane-based artist at the forefront of conceptual art practice in Australia. Vernon Ah Kee is a descendant of the Kuku Yalanji, Yidinyji, and Guugu Yimithirr people of North Queensland. He also has kinship connections to the Waanyi people of North-West Queensland.
Vernon Ah Kee is attuned to the politics of representation, and the social and economic implications of unequal cultural exchange in Australia. He draws on ethnographic archives to challenge colonial legacies and to engage audiences with the strong and continuing presence of Aboriginal Australians, their histories, and their cultures. Ah Kee’s conceptual text pieces reposition the Aboriginal in Australia from an ‘othered thing’, anchored in museum and scientific records to a contemporary people inhabiting real and current spaces and time.
Vernon Ah Kee’s work is held in major art collections within Australia and overseas including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney and the Tate Modern, London.
Meriba Tonar | Ngoelmudh | Our Way
MARYANN SABASIO | NOLA WARD-PAGE | LARA FUJII | JAMES AHMAT SR |HARRY NONA |ALICK PASSI
Presented in partnership by NorthSite Contemporary Arts and Gab Titui Cultural Centre, Thursday Island, Meriba Tonar | Ngoelmudh | Our Way features new and innovative works by six up-and-coming artists from the Torres Strait region. While conveying individual narratives through a range of media, these practices — which have not been shown outside of the Torres Strait before —collectively inspire through stories and imagery relating to the unique culture, history, and identity of the Torres Strait.
Meriba Tonar = Our Way in Meriam Mir language (Eastern Torres Strait language)
Ngoelmudh = Our Way in Kala Lagaw Ya language (Western Torres Strait language)
Curated by Aven Noah Jr and Leitha Assan. Supported by Kailu George.
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SPOTFIRE II
BRIAN ROBINSON | GLEN MACKIE | KASSANDRA SAVAGE | ROBERT TOMMY PAU | RUTH SAVEKA | SHERYL J BURCHILL | TAHEEGA SAVAGE | ZANE SAUNDERS
This exhibition showcases a series of prints created through the NorthSite Print Program, ‘SpotFire’. Facilitated by master printmaker Theo Tremblay,
‘SpotFire’ enabled eight emerging and established First Nations Artists to plan, develop and produce fine art prints on paper and fabric throughout 2023.
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