Sunday Arts Magazine

9 Lives is a new, visual art exhibition featuring the works of nine Melbourne-based female-identifying artists, including iconic costumier Rose Chong, showing at The Long Gallery at Montsalvat from 14 – 31 July.

Each of these nine women have lived full and successful lives in different areas such as science, sports, graphic design, photojournalism, theatre production and costume design but in the height of the pandemic, chose to shake things up and chase their dreams to renew and rediscover their personal art practices.

Studying their Diploma of Visual Art at the Northern College of the Arts & Technology they started together in the studio but ultimately, ended on Zoom.

“I’ve always wanted to go back and study. This was the right time for me to do it and I knew it was now or never. All of us in the class were mature-aged students so it felt like a safe space to be and it was very accommodating to all of us who have busy lives,” said artist Rebecca Armstrong.

The nine artists – Rebecca Armstrong, Debra Billson, Rose Chong, Kirsten Dunkley, Raksmei Keo, Deborah Ladd, Kate Lambe, Melinda Story and Wendy Tse – come from different backgrounds so it was important to each of them that this exhibition reflected their diversity and individuality.

The exhibition sees many visual art mediums explored including abstract and figurative painting, printmaking, textiles, mixed media, and sculpture. The content is both abstract and representational with 5-10 pieces from each artist with Chong however, exhibiting over 80 tiny self-portraits.

Chong is fascinated by language, colour and absurdity, using humour to engage with an increasingly senseless world. In 9 Lives, her art will be installed as an interactive work Do You Want a Piece of Me? where viewers can purchase their own little piece of the legendary Rose Chong to take home on the spot, with the installation diminishing over the course of the exhibition.

“I took a 60-year hiatus from making art, and now it’s like a tap has been turned on and I can’t turn it off!” said Chong.

Lambe’s work is strongly influenced by her graphic design background, encompassing lettering and symbols using primary and secondary colours to convey personal, social or political themes. While Billson, an award winning book designer, investigates traditional women’s crafts to question ‘what is art’?

The number nine symbolises completion and resolution of wisdom and experience, but also transition and transformation from endings into new beginnings.

Daughters of Melbourne: A Guide to the Invisible Statues of Melbourne By Maree Coote

At last! A TRUER History of Melbourne… With Added Women for extra strength!

Meet the daughters of Melbourne. The rich gals; the poor gals; the gorgeous gay gals—And the gals who’d rather paint. Meet Aboriginal warriors who don’t care for compromise.

Meet divas dubbed ‘difficult’, while their men are never so. Find out which Ultra-Modern Melbourne man accused Nellie Melba of penis envy! Who discredited more women artists than he had hot breakfasts? Did Effie truly deliver an immaculate conception? Who wrote Gail Couper out of surfing history?

How did Panda cover for Gray-Gray? Who asked if Lincoln was impotent/Churchill flatulent/Napoleon constipated? Who declared Magda unfunny? Which woman seduced Chrissy Amphlett into the spotlight? Why did Stella Young enlist a murderer to her cause? Which French lover inspired Mirka’s trip to Melbourne? Which woman paid for Melbourne’s hospitals, art galleries and gardens? Who suggested castration of rapists in 1884? Who tricked the media with a miniskirt? Which all-girl band was the swingin’est? Who is Melbourne’s Wizard of Oz? Who put fairies at the bottom of Melbourne’s garden? Who was forced to paint on Corn Flake boxes? Which politician was filmed in leathers?… And which celebrated Australian men called them all unladylike, unfeminine and unworthy?

Discover the real history of Melbourne through the lives of the fabulous women who built the city, its culture, community and commerce. Every one is a giant. Most were labelled ‘difficult’. All have been denied a statue. Why? Find out in Daughters Of Melbourne: A guide to the invisible statues of Melbourne.

Linden New Art presents DISTANT SHORES, a new exhibition project co-produced by Melbourne/Naarm-

based photographic artist Morganna Magee and curator Anna Monea. Developed in collaboration with members

from the local community, DISTANT SHORES combines documentary photography, family photos and written

testimony to tell the story of the migrant experience through themes of cultural connection, memory, longing and

loss. DISTANT SHORES commences Thursday 9 June with an opening reception Friday 10 June 6-8pm,

and will run until Sunday 31 July 2022 in the Linden Projects Space.

For DISTANT SHORES, Magee and Monea worked with recently arrived migrants, refugees and people

seeking asylum based in the City of Port Phillip municipality to create a series of photographic profiles

celebrating cultural heritage. Exploring each participant’s cultural ties to their homeland in the wake of the

disconnection imposed by the pandemic, Magee presents a personal image belonging to the participant

alongside their portrait, which, captured by Magee, recreates the original photograph in an Australian context.

Intimate, emotional and deeply insightful, DISTANT SHORES is a sensitive work that gently speaks to our

shared humanity.

Curator Anna Monea writes; “DISTANT SHORES explores the

cultural and personal links of each participant to their homeland

and how they have created a new life here in Australia. Migrants,

refugees and people seeking asylum leave their homelands for a

myriad of reasons, often horrific, but in many cases they have to

leave loved ones behind. If they are fortunate, they have

photographs – small mementos of their loved ones back home.

By presenting these images and recreating them within an

Australian setting, DISTANT SHORES offers insight into each

person’s life and how far they have travelled.”

Morganna Magee is a social documentary photographer and

educator whose photographic practice sits at the intersection of

storytelling and expanded documentary. To date her personal

work has examined the complexities around issues such as

disability, grief and womanhood. Magee’s images have appeared

in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Age, The Big Issue,

Art and Australia and many more. She is a founding member of

Lumina Collective, an organisation of award-winning female and non-binary photographic artists. Magee

lectures in Photo Imaging at Swinburne University.

Town Hall Gallery presents the new exhibition Above the Canopy, celebrating the rich and diverse beauty of the Australian natural environment from 9 July to 24 September. This exhibition conveys the unimaginable grandeur of nature while exploring concerns for climate action and the need to protect the planet for future generations.

Featuring artists working with installation, photography, painting, animation and textiles, the exhibition creates a theatrical, immersive, and regenerative experience that acknowledges the significance of Country and our need to care for it. The artists include Sarah Hendy, Janet Laurence, Michael McHugh, Rebecca Mayo, Catherine Nelson, Grant Stevens and Judy Watson.

Nature has provided an infinite source of inspiration for visual artists  across millennia; they have captured its beauty, documented the impacts of changing weather patterns, and commented on unsustainable human practices. Through hyperreal images of lush and verdant forests alongside detailed studies of insects, botany, birds and geology, Above the Canopy  shows a deep appreciation for our majestic and awe-inspiring world.

Sarah Hendy is a multidisciplinary artist based in Victoria. Her featured work, ‘Waiting For Daybreak’ (2018) (pictured left), interrogates a near-death experience she had in one of the most beautiful parts of Australia after nearly drowning in the Northern Rivers region of NSW as a result of ex-tropical Cyclone Debbie. It is characterised by verdant and luxurious plant growth, with delicate ferns growing within a crowded landscape of giant stinging trees, figs, booyongs and flame trees.

Janet Laurence’s practice examines our physical, cultural and conflicting relationship to the natural world through site-specific gallery and museum works. Laurence creates immersive environments that navigate the interconnections between life and the world. Her installation ‘Breath of the Forest’ (2020) features eleven suspended silk veils overlayed with images of animals and trees, including old growth forests in Tasmania. This work embodies the transience and fragility of natural habitats.

Michael McHugh collects a wide range of photographs and drawings during research trips to museums, libraries and gardens around the world. In his studio, he draws and creates a series of collages which lead to large format paintings. For Above the Canopy, he has created a large-scale painting Swimming in the Clouds (2022) which asks what new hybrid organic forms will evolve from climate change, when plant forms are washed away and land is engulfed by saltwater intrusion that includes complex sea life microcosms.

Michael McHugh says: “My work imagines a world of natural forms from both land and sea, completely with new DNA, creating a rare evolution of species which organically began from the beauty of the Australian natural environment. This work, Swimming In The Clouds (Acrylic on Canvas) is the largest painting I have done to date, stretching six metres long, and celebrates colour and nature with lush paint and obsessive mark marking. In my world I want to bring the viewer joy, and for a moment forget everything else that is going on in their lives.”

 

Rebecca Mayo is a lecturer at the School of Art & Design, Australian National University and principally examines relations and interactions between urban ecologically significant sites and people. Referencing Charles Darwin’s 1881 book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms and contemplating the agency of non-human life, Mayo’s featured work At work with worms (2020) is a compost/composite of Darwin’s laser-etched text, her human tending, and the worms’ business of eating. Mayo explains, “Working with the thousands of worms contained in the farm, my making slowed to their rhythm. Etched in Canberra and left for a week with the worms, the book pages took up the worms’ appetite which in turn paced with...

Telstra NATSIAA Finalists

64 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards finalists selected in

the 2022 exhibition.

64 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander finalists from across Australia have been selected from a total

of 221 entries in the 2022 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (Telstra

NATSIAA), presented by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) in

partnership with Telstra.

Telstra NATSIAA is Australia’s longest running and most prestigious Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander art award and has the country’s richest art prize pool and growing significantly since its

genesis in 1984. Each year, the Awards Ceremony and Exhibition celebrates emerging and

distinguished artistic talent from around Australia.

33 finalists are from the Northern Territory with 12 from Western Australia, 12 from South Australia,

6 from Queensland including 1 Torres Strait Islander artist. 1 artist resides in New South Wales and 1

Victorian artist were also selected.

Presented by Salty Theatre, He Who Must Not Be Named apparates to the Gateway of the Mornington Peninsula this July. Salty Theatre, making a name for itself as an “underground highlight” (Cameron Woodhead – The Age), “someone to watch” (ArtsHub) and “the answer to off-Broadway in Melbourne” (You should see it melb), brings beloved pop culture to the fore with humour, grit and little bit of spice. Before Voldemort was He Who Must Not Be Named, he was just Tom Riddle, another moody teen that couldn’t talk to girls. Join Tom and his Hogwarts classmates on a hilarious musical adventure as he learns the ways of love, proper snake maintenance, the Unforgivable Curses and how to sever his soul through rock and roll. This over-the-top origin story is sure to leave you spellbound! Following two hugely successful back-to-back seasons at The Edinburgh Fringe, sold-out performances at The King’s Head in London and a 5-week sold out Melbourne season, Voldemort and the Teenage Hogwarts Musical Parody is ready to hit Frankston for the first time ever.

Created by Los Angeles based comedians Zach Reino (A.P. Bio, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Brew Brothers) and Chris Grace (Superstore, A-Typical, This Is Us) this hour-long pop rock musical invites you to experience the World of Hogwarts like you’ve never seen it before. Teen angst, hormones and young love fill the magical halls, along with a few familiar and much-loved characters as they sing about Cutting Your Soul, Care of Magical Creatures, and Love That Must Not Be Named. 

Salty Theatre Co-Founder Ashley Taylor Tickell explains, “As a Potterhead, the opportunity to introduce this hilarious, off-centre and brand-new look at the World of Potter that we love so much was one that we couldn’t miss. We’re thrilled that it offers all of the diehard fans a glorious taste of the Wizarding World they adore but in a more adult way. It’s a ridiculous Voldemort Origin Story that blends everything fans embrace with humour that wizarding fans and muggles alike can relate to. It really is the perfect cure by laughter for the difficult year we’ve all been through. Come. Side-splitting laughter really is the best medicine.”  

Salty Theatre was co-founded by theatre, dance and cabaret veteran Sarahlouise Younger and Canadian theatre and screen vet Ashley Taylor Tickell, and in its short existence has begun making a mark. As a female-led independent musical theatre company they connect writers, directors, producers and performers from across the globe to form new creative partnerships and present and develop new or rarely-produced works to Australian audiences, recently launching The Hatch Lab Musical Theatre Workshop.

Running this July at the George Jenkins Theatre on Mornington’s Monash campus, Voldemort and the Teenage Hogwarts Musical Parody is a raucous musical comedy that lifts up its robes to give you a glimpse into the secret world of witches and wizards. Get your wands ready.

For the first time in 7 years, Melbourne’s artiste provocateurs Finucane & Smith return to the heart of the city with FUTURE. JOY. CLUB. – a sultry decadent celebration of golden era burlesque and variety vanguard.  Led by gothic glamazon Moira Finucane, The FUTURE. JOY. CLUB. will reside in the lush, mirrored ballroom of Sofitel Melbourne On Collins from 7 July – 7 August 2022.

With the very best of Australia’s exquisite and explosive underground stars cherry picked for FUTURE. JOY. CLUB., Finucane & Smith and Sofitel have created a nightclub at the Paris End of Collins Street that you will never want to leave.

The hauntingly beautiful voices of indie pop star Sophie Koh, Ngurlama jazz blues legend Lois Olneyand Melbourne’s own transcendent songstress Mama Alto will envelope the club. Glittering boylesque classically trained Indian dancer Govind Pillai, lightning rod burlesque artist Jazida, eyepopping club star Iva Rosebud and Cameroon/Parisian hip hop star Simon Abbe will lay their talents bare within velvety surrounds.

Basking in the central glow, shaking and stirring all who stand before her, is chief alchemiser and club host Moira Finucane, whose reputation for seduction and subversion, volcanic performance and redefining burlesque is internationally renowned.

“After two years of cancelled lives and wondering why we all look so shite on zoom, we wanted Collins Street meets Constantinople, Coconut Grove meets cutting edge culture, sparkling chandeliers, velvet decor, part lounge – part louche, bristling with artists you just cannot look away from. A show-stopper of showgirls, song, dance and striptease all set to an addictive soundtrack spanning bollywood and hardcore through to the genius Rachel Lewindon on grand piano.

FUTURE. JOY. CLUB. is a live spectacle, it’s the sizzle and the steak. We are going to greet you like long lost lovers. I’ll be at the door. This is YOUR club where wild variety meets blood red hearts. Your club where Melbourne comes alive again, and aching hearts mend, laughter shakes the roof, and the future is faced with joy, together,” says co-creator Moira Finucane.

Creating a stormfront of debate and engagement around provocation, entertainment and gender; Finucane & Smith have become synonymous with a kind of unleashed cabaret that mashes old style hospitality and entertainment with hyper-visual razor sharp sexuality and intelligence.

The company broke the burlesque-as-live-art sound barrier in 2004 with the tearaway success of The Burlesque Hour, which won a swag of awards and beckoned thousands of people to Melbourne’s heart every winter for over a decade.  It went on to tour 15 countries performing to over 600,000 people.

Finucane & Smith performed in Cuba in 2015, becoming the first Australian company invited to the Havana Internacional Theatre Festival and winning International Theatre Institute’s International Presentation of the Year. With a thirst for new challenges, Finucane and Smith’s repertoire exploded with drama in China, art vs extinction presentations in USA and Europe and immersive works in museums from Prague to Ljubljana.

“Seven years ago we staged Glory Box La Revolucion and flew off to Cuba. We said ‘come and see us, it will be the last of our winter variety spectacles for years’. We didn’t lie.  Who knew what we would all endure.

In lockdown we vowed to create a club that would be a love transfusion to Melbourne. Young, old, gay straight, well heeled, high heeled, mothers and mother lovers, queer as f*ck; this is your club. Literally the only place to be this winter,” said Finucane.

“It was winter 2002 when our two year old daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia. Our world crashed around us overnight. There were moments when being heavily pregnant with our third child, I honestly thought we were losing the battle for Amelia’s survival.

It was then that we meet Dr Catherine Crock who was the doctor in charge of the all the lumbar punctures Amelia had to endure. Our world changed when a collaboration of committed staff and parents got the Hush Foundation up and running.

We were one of those families and music has been the comfort and centre to Amelia’s life since. We as a family will forever remain indebted to Catherine for having the real empathy to understand what our family was facing and introducing HUSH throughout the RCH for the betterment of all our children.

Amelia is now a healthy 16 year old doing year 11, who interestingly, doesn’t function without music.  The experience she had as a very sick toddler has shaped her life forever and thanks to HUSH Amelia sings each day and has performed music at her school and at private functions. Amelia believes that the connection made to music when she was so sick is why she knows music will play an important part of her life forever”. ​

Thank you Hush and Dr Catherine for putting the families first and encouraging the role of music therapy not just in survival but for the quality of life experience for patients and their families for their lifetime!

The work that the Hush Foundation does is not about saving children it’s about making the journey of survival bearable and taking away the pain of the treatment.”

Stephen talks to Eve and David about films on in Melbourne and beyond.

Following enormous successes in the UK and US,

Lightscape is making its Australian debut at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne in June 2022

and will be a highlight of Melbourne’s highly anticipated winter events calendar.

Featuring luminous walkways and vistas, vibrant bursts of colour that run up trees like fireworks

and large-scale installations such as the Winter Cathedral, comprising more than 100,000 tiny

lights, Lightscape takes audiences on a 1.8km journey of light and sound through Melbourne’s

iconic Botanic Gardens.

Initially scheduled to debut in 2020 but delayed due to COVID-19, Royal Botanic Gardens

Melbourne will be the first garden in Australia to host Lightscape, which has been created in

partnership with Sony Music Entertainment.

The event was developed at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK 10 years ago and has been

an overwhelming success since, with more than two million people experiencing the illuminated

trails at various venues last season. Since its inception, it has been showcased at botanic

gardens, National Trust and UNESCO World Heritage sites across the UK and US to great

acclaim.

“I am delighted to announce this world-class event at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.. At

Lightscape, visitors will experience nature in a whole new light. Indeed, many different lights!”

said Professor Tim Entwisle, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Botanic Gardens

Victoria.

“In addition to internationally acclaimed pieces, Lightscape will commission local artists to create

works to celebrate Melbourne’s culture and nature, all at the green heart of our beautiful city,”

he added.