Current Exhibitions

Dream Home | Kaoru Alfonso | Sistagirls

Dream Home

Friday 3 September - Saturday 9 October 2010
Tue - Fri: 12.00 - 7.00pm, Sat & Sun 10.00am - 6.00pm

Gallery 1&2

Curated by Malcolm Smith

Kaoru Alfonso (ACT), Peter Alwast (QLD), Benzo (SA), Bianca Barling (SA), Perran Costi (NSW), Paul Dunn (VIC), Paul Mumme (QLD), Renee Nowytarger (NSW), Dean Sewell (NSW), Samantha Small (ACT), Nicole Robson (TAS), Garry Trinh (NSW)

For some Australians it’s a water feature and a double car garage; for others it’s freedom from persecution. Dream Home examines Australian values through the metaphor of the home, asking us to reflect on what we dream about, the price we’d pay to make those dreams come true, and the disparity that often exists between the dream and the reality.

From mortgages and McMansions to Indigenous housing and refugees, the homes of our dreams are a potent reflection of our sense of entitlement, our values and our aspirations. In this exhibition eleven Australian photomedia artists take a critical look at the conflicted and contradictory nature of our Dream Homes.

Dream Home is an associated event of Art & About Sydney 2010, presented by City of Sydney.

IMAGE: © Dean Sewell Accommodation buildings at Woomera Detention Centre 2005
IMAGE: © Garry Trinh Welcome Home 14 2007
IMAGE: © Renee Nowytarger (News Ltd) 2009 2

Kaoru Alfonso: 212 (as part of Dream Home)

Friday 3 September - Sunday 26 September 2010
Tue - Fri: 12.00 - 7.00pm, Sat & Sun 10.00am - 6.00pm

Gallery 4

The planning and design of the 212 unit Currong project in Braddon ACT, commenced in 1957. At eight stories it was the tallest building in Canberra and at the time was considered an innovative approach to meet the city’s changing housing needs.

In this exhibition, all 212 windows of the Currong flats have been photographed on an overcast Canberra day. Mounted on the gallery wall in grids, the arrangement of these images suggests the cold detachment of typology as much as they reflect the block’s original design. In doing so, Kaoru Alfonso makes a gently critical commentary on the well-intentioned social programs of previous generations.

IMAGE © Kaoru Alfonso A35 from 212, 2009
IMAGE © Kaoru Alfonso A30 from 212, 2009
IMAGE © Kaoru Alfonso A37 from 212, 2009

Bindi Cole: Sistagirls

Friday 3 September - Sunday 26 September 2010
Tue - Fri: 12.00 - 7.00pm, Sat & Sun 10.00am - 6.00pm

Gallery 3

“I have met some inspirational women in my life, but never before have I met women like the Sistagirls. I felt both grounded by their presence and swept away by their romanticism.” Jirra Lulla Harvey

The Sistagirls are a small community of Indigenous transgender women living on the tiny and remote Tiwi Islands in the far north of Australia. While many of the Sistagirls have dreams of running away to a far off land where their sexuality will be embraced rather than judged, they all have an unwavering loyalty to their homelands.

Bindi Cole’s portraits of the Sistagirls and Jirra Lulla Harvey’s accompanying texts tell a moving story about the need to be loved and to belong. Sistagirls speaks to universal human values in a way that transcends cultural differences, offers us a unique insight into a world that on the surface seems so foreign, yet at its heart is so familiar.

Sistagirls

IMAGE: © Bindi Cole Ajay (from the series Sistagirls) 2009
IMAGE: © Bindi Cole Nicola (from the series Sistagirls) 2009
IMAGE: © Bindi Cole Jemima (from the series Sistagirls) 2009