More from this Issue
Art about farming, farming as an art
The daily experience of tending a tract of land in the south-east of South Australia is the raw material of artist–farmer James Darling. The land which comprises Duck Island is watercourse country where sand, water, salt and native vegetation are the elements from which, over decades of passionate attention, he and his partner Lesley Forwood have developed a farm which includes a special salt-tolerant grass for their cattle. His exhibition, Define the Country, at Riddoch Art Gallery in Mount Gambier is a response to this farmed landscape.
Saved by the Demon - Hemp Lives
Cannibis Sativa as a drug, as uses of hemp - textiles, fabric and paper - as building materials, as oils food and protein, for medical and therapeutic applications, biomass energy... so why is there a prohibition?
Rice on the Terrace
The artist grew up in Baguio, which looks to be quite close to Ifugao on the map, and although I was taught that the rice terraces of this region of the Philippines were the eighth wonder of the world it was many years before he was able to see them.
Cate Jones on Photography
Exhibition review Lifeworks: Aboriginal women photographed in action and at work by Aboriginal women photographers
Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute
Adelaide South Australia
7 October - 4 December 1994
Husbandry and the Coporate Collection
Making taste? Making money? Melbourne historian Juliet Peers scrutinises a group of books and catalogues on corporate art collections to see whether boardroom fancies and their lavish publications reflect a wider role in shaping popular visions of Australian painting.
Plant a Yam, Paint a Yam
Explores the relationship between food and its representation in the northeast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Remember, dangerous themes make dangerous art.
Harsh Realities: Artists and the Land
Even in the shiny spaces of the big cities, for some the dirt of the paddocks is only just below the surface. Michael Eather talks to three artists who were born and raised in the country, about their current attitudes to the land as a place of production.
Living with the Land
If there is a contemporary issue for landscape artist to engage with, it must be the process of developing a relationship with the landscape, even if it is at the level of s sustain[able] failure, a low level antagonism or an uneasy peace. It is as difficult and as complex as any other issue, and it ultimately speaks of the human condition.
Culture/ Agriculture
Story 1: A story about land owners and nomads. Story 2: Never terra nullius. Story 3: Genetic imperialism. Story 4: The politicization of hunger. Story 5: Kunde and the perception of order.
Mark Stephens on 600,000 Hours
Exhibition review 600,000 Hours (mortality) exhibitions
Experimental Art Foundation
Adelaide South Australia
15 September - 4 December 1994
The Struggle for LESS Interesting Pictures
Beth Field is a farmer and a photographer in the WA wheatbelt facing a curious loss, one she is happy to accept - the dramatic colours of sunsets reflected in the salt lakes which she used to photograph may soon be hard to find as revegetation reclaims the soil. She recounts the changes she has seen in the last decade.