Bordertown’s Walkway Gallery is pleased to present Just Not Australian, an exhibition of work by Australian artists at the forefront of national debate and practice.
Just Not Australian brings together 20 artists across generations and diverse cultural backgrounds to deal broadly with what it means to be Australian.
Artists include Abdul Abdullah, Hoda Afshar, Tony Albert, Cigdem Aydemir, Liam Benson, Eric Bridgeman, Jon Campbell, Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Gordon Hookey, Richard Lewer, Archie Moore, Vincent Namatjira, Nell, Joan Ross, Tony Schwensen, Raquel Ormella, Ryan Presley, and artistic duo Soda Jerk.
A number of the works in the exhibition are united by the desire to take Australia’s ‘official’ history to task, making space for people and events that have been sidelined or omitted, in particular Soda Jerk’s TERROR NULLIUS, described by the artists as a ‘political revenge fable that offers an unwriting of Australian national mythologies’.
Artists including Gordon Hookey, Cigdem Aydemir, Tony Albert, Vincent Namatjira and Joan Ross explore the politics of images, their construction and circulation, as well as their connection to legacies of racial and cultural misrepresentation.
Karla Dickens, Fiona Foley, Hoda Afshar and Eric Bridgeman address historical and contemporary mistruths and injustices with creative invention and strength.
Raquel Ormella, Richard Lewer, Liam Benson and Ryan Presley utilise familiar nationalistic symbols or emblems such as flags, maps and currency notes to examine individual and collective relationships with the state, while Jon Campbell, Abdul Abdullah, Nell, Archie Moore and Tony Schwensen demonstrate the visual potency of language to reveal its use in cultural alienation, subjugation and likewise, liberation.
Walkway Gallery director Naomi Fallon said the gallery was excited to be hosting the tour and showcasing 20 powerhouse Australian artists to the Limestone Coast.”
“Just Not Australian is designed to provoke a response, so we’re expecting some hearty and heavy conversations,” she said.
“We’re not here to change your opinion, or make you love contemporary art, but we do encourage you to take some time, explore some great art and have a chat.”
The exhibition will open on September 16 and run til October 30.
