A contemporary neo-noir thriller spanning seven decades and set in the inner suburbs of Melbourne, this March

Theatre Works and the Victorian Theatre Company proudly present The Darkening Sky – the latest premiere

work from renowned playwright Richard Murphet.

Bringing together some of our finest local artists and arts makers, The Darkening Sky interweaves lives from the

past and present in a desperate bid to solve the unexplained disappearance of two women.

In the warm and familiar surrounds of his local bar Jamie (Brian Lipson) has managed to build a life of peace and

solitude for decades. Now thrust unwillingly into reconstructing troubled memories, his belief in the calm surface

of his childhood crumbles – surrounded by elements from a past he didn’t even know existed. At the same time a

detective (Tom Dent) is handed a Cold Case involving the disappearance of a young woman in the 1980s. Chasing

answers to this mystery unearths a web of political intrigue, violence, and sacrifice.

Featuring live pianist Adrian Montana accompanying the action with original compositions, The Darkening Sky

also employs multi-media to heighten the experience for audiences, taking them along on the winding and sur-

prising journey through the streets of St Kilda and inner city Melbourne.

“I have always been a fan of film noir: its stark black and while imagery, desperate characters, hidden world of

underworld operatives and its tone of melancholy and loss.”, explains Writer/Director Richard Murphet. “We’re

working to create a three dimensional sensory experience for audiences with The Darkening Sky, and bring them

into that world. I think audiences will really engage with piecing together the parts of the jigsaw at the same time

as the central character.”

Examining a hidden fictional history of Melbourne while featuring well known locations around St. Kilda and other

inner suburbs, The Darkening Sky is an electrifying and all engrossing new Australian work. 90 minutes of non-

stop action, not to be missed.

Written and Directed by Richard Murphet

Director Jessica Bridgfoot confirmed Priscilla Presley will travel from her home in Los Angeles to Bendigo to officially launch the exhibition. 

“Priscilla plays a key role in the Elvis story and the continuation of his legacy, so we are absolutely thrilled that she is able to be a part of the opening celebrations for the exhibition,” Jessica said.

Angie Marchese, Vice President Archives and Exhibitions at Elvis Presley Enterprises will also travel to Bendigo for the final stages of the exhibition installation.

“Priscilla and Angie have worked together for almost four decades to preserve the objects that are included in this exhibition, and their knowledge of Elvis’ life is unparalleled, so it is such a privilege to have them with us as we launch this comprehensive biographical exhibition, which is focused on one of the most influential, iconic – and celebrated – figures of the twentieth century.”

 

Yal presents a selection of photographic work and large painted shields by multidisciplinary artist Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman in collaboration with members of the Yuri tribe of Sibmu Province and his diasporic family in Papua New Guinea. The title of the work translates to the Yuri word for ‘man’, fitting the exhibition’s exploration of social and cultural expectations and traditions relating to masculinity. Yal will open on Saturday March 12 and will run until Sunday June 5, 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

To Yuriyal, “The portraits come after the process, and the shield. It is important, but it is an afterthought. The process of discussing and sharing cultural knowledge with elders, the young and old, and creating space for men to express their culture is significant.”

After Yuriyal graduated university in 2010, he began travelling back to PNG to connect with family. While there, Yuriyal began learning and sharing knowledge with his tribe and elders. This artistic collaboration led to the formation of an arts collective known as Haus Yuriyal. Haus Yuriyal has built their craft around things that are significant to them as men – tradition and custom, contemporary stories, ceremony, the presentation of bilas (worn adornments), tribal fighting, and games of rugby. The collective finds their power through colour and optics, inscribing their names and identification through graphics and familial language.

Presented in this exhibition of photographic works is a story of war and peace, and a vision of what Haus Yuriyal is fighting for – ples(home). Throughout the photographs, Yuriyal reflects on what is means to be a man, and how Rugby League and creative practices may help quell the effects of tribal warfare. The shield paintings that stand alongside the photographs demonstrate Yuriyal’s work as Yal, a solitary man working away from his tribesmen, but constantly thinking of them.

Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman lives and works between Brisbane and the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. In 2010, Bridgeman graduated with a Bachelor of Photography from the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane. Significant solo exhibitions include Haus Man, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2012); and The Fight, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne (2017). His work was included in the 8th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA, Brisbane (2015-2016); The National: New Australian Art, Carriageworks, Sydney (2019); and the 22nd Biennale of Sydney, NIRIN, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cockatoo Island, with Haus Yuriyal (2019).

Yal allows insight into the variety of mediums, processes and meanings behind the cultural expectations related to masculinity as presented by Yuriyal Eric Bridgeman.

Queer” as a concept runs against all definitions, all fixed meaning, forever questioning, redeploying, twisting terms, texts and itself from conventional usage. – Christoph Ribbat, Professor of American Studies at the Universität Paderborn in Germany, and author of ‘Queer and Straight Photography’, published in the journal ‘Amerikastudien’, 2001.

Opening in 2022, Queer is a landmark, Australian-first exhibition that will explore the NGV Collection through a queer lens and celebrate the rich, diverse and sometimes untold stories that emerge. Spanning five gallery spaces and featuring more than 300 artworks across historical eras and cultures, the exhibition will be the most comprehensive thematic presentation of artworks relating to queer stories ever mounted in an Australian art institution.

Bringing together a breadth of artworks from antiquity to the present day, the exhibition will illuminate the ways in which queer lives and stories have been expressed in art through history. Drawing on contemporary research, interpretation and analysis, the exhibition will also explore the narratives that might not have been visible in the past due to suppression, prejudice or discrimination.

The exhibition will be curated across more than ten thematic sections and include painting, drawing, photography, decorative arts, fashion, textiles, video, sculpture, design and architecture. Highlight works include:

* Leigh Bowery’s subversive and boundary-pushing fashion ‘looks’, including The Metropolitan (c. 1988) in which a full-length floral satin dress is paired with a face covering, a black ‘Kaiser’ helmet and a pair of camouflage print leather gloves;

* Ponch Hawkes’s 1973 photograph, No title (Two women embracing, ‘Glad to be gay’), which depicts a couple proudly and courageously celebrating their love during the Gay Liberation Movement in Melbourne;

* Albrecht Dürer, St Sebastian at the tree, 1501, which depicts the early Christian martyr who since the Renaissance has been often portrayed as a beautiful young man, giving rise to homoerotic interpretations of his story. By the late 19th century, Sebastian had emerged as a queer icon, beloved by Oscar Wilde who, in French exile after his trial, took the alias ‘Sebastian Melmoth’;

* Brassaï’s photograph Le Monocle, the bar. On the left is Lulu de Montparnasse, which captures the defiant lesbian and gender non-conforming patrons of Le Monocle, a prominent lesbian bar active during the interwar years in Paris;

* A Greek Chalkidian black-figure vase, 540 BCE, depicting Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, who was said by ancient authors such as Aeschylus and Plato to have taken his warrior friend Patroklus as his lover;

* Brook Andrew’s S & D II, 1997, in which issues of queer identity, sexuality and mythmaking are explored through the superimposition of Chinese characters for “solid” and “robust” onto a photograph of a bare-chested Wiradjuri man, emphasizing the subject’s sexuality and musculature;

* Peter Behrens’ The kiss, 1898, noted for the androgynous kissing couple at the centre of its Art Nouveau composition, illuminating gender ambiguity and fluidity of the late 19th century;

* Destiny Deacon’s Where’s Mickey?, a photograph that unsettles the binary distinctions that have shaped western culture and its constructions of race and gender by presenting Torres Strait Islander man Luke Captain dressed as a drag version of the iconic cartoon mouse;

* The watercolour Shiva in the form of Ardhanarisvara (c. 1980) by Maithil, which illustrates an androgynous Hindu deity formed by the union of the male god Shiva with the goddess Parvati, suggesting that the supreme being is neither one sex nor the other, but a fusion of both;

* Agnes Goodsir’s subtle and engaging portrait, The letter, 1926, which features the artist’s muse,

Queer” as a concept runs against all definitions, all fixed meaning, forever questioning, redeploying, twisting terms, texts and itself from conventional usage. – Christoph Ribbat, Professor of American Studies at the Universität Paderborn in Germany, and author of ‘Queer and Straight Photography’, published in the journal ‘Amerikastudien’, 2001.

Opening in 2022, Queer is a landmark, Australian-first exhibition that will explore the NGV Collection through a queer lens and celebrate the rich, diverse and sometimes untold stories that emerge. Spanning five gallery spaces and featuring more than 300 artworks across historical eras and cultures, the exhibition will be the most comprehensive thematic presentation of artworks relating to queer stories ever mounted in an Australian art institution.

Bringing together a breadth of artworks from antiquity to the present day, the exhibition will illuminate the ways in which queer lives and stories have been expressed in art through history. Drawing on contemporary research, interpretation and analysis, the exhibition will also explore the narratives that might not have been visible in the past due to suppression, prejudice or discrimination.

The exhibition will be curated across more than ten thematic sections and include painting, drawing, photography, decorative arts, fashion, textiles, video, sculpture, design and architecture. Highlight works include:

* Leigh Bowery’s subversive and boundary-pushing fashion ‘looks’, including The Metropolitan (c. 1988) in which a full-length floral satin dress is paired with a face covering, a black ‘Kaiser’ helmet and a pair of camouflage print leather gloves;

* Ponch Hawkes’s 1973 photograph, No title (Two women embracing, ‘Glad to be gay’), which depicts a couple proudly and courageously celebrating their love during the Gay Liberation Movement in Melbourne;

* Albrecht Dürer, St Sebastian at the tree, 1501, which depicts the early Christian martyr who since the Renaissance has been often portrayed as a beautiful young man, giving rise to homoerotic interpretations of his story. By the late 19th century, Sebastian had emerged as a queer icon, beloved by Oscar Wilde who, in French exile after his trial, took the alias ‘Sebastian Melmoth’;

* Brassaï’s photograph Le Monocle, the bar. On the left is Lulu de Montparnasse, which captures the defiant lesbian and gender non-conforming patrons of Le Monocle, a prominent lesbian bar active during the interwar years in Paris;

* A Greek Chalkidian black-figure vase, 540 BCE, depicting Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War, who was said by ancient authors such as Aeschylus and Plato to have taken his warrior friend Patroklus as his lover;

* Brook Andrew’s S & D II, 1997, in which issues of queer identity, sexuality and mythmaking are explored through the superimposition of Chinese characters for “solid” and “robust” onto a photograph of a bare-chested Wiradjuri man, emphasizing the subject’s sexuality and musculature;

* Peter Behrens’ The kiss, 1898, noted for the androgynous kissing couple at the centre of its Art Nouveau composition, illuminating gender ambiguity and fluidity of the late 19th century;

* Destiny Deacon’s Where’s Mickey?, a photograph that unsettles the binary distinctions that have shaped western culture and its constructions of race and gender by presenting Torres Strait Islander man Luke Captain dressed as a drag version of the iconic cartoon mouse;

* The watercolour Shiva in the form of Ardhanarisvara (c. 1980) by Maithil, which illustrates an androgynous Hindu deity formed by the union of the male god Shiva with the goddess Parvati, suggesting that the supreme being is neither one sex nor the other, but a fusion of both;

* Agnes Goodsir’s subtle and engaging portrait, The letter, 1926, which features the artist’s muse,

Divisi Chamber Singers were also recently one of 15 winners of the prestigious ABC Composer Commissioning Awards, from over 150 applicants. They’re using this award to commission a new song cycle by young queer composer Meta Cohen, based on poetry by five young Australian queer poets. They’ll record for the ABC in May, and then be presented on the radio nationally. Divisi were also the recipients of a major grant from Creative Victoria. They’re an amazing group of young singers – dedicated, enthusiastic, and absolutely joyous. The Compose Queer repertoire is the same – really vivid, alive music.

Time Fell Asleep In The Evening Rain is a solo-exhibition by Melbourne-based artist, Cyrus Tang, presenting a series of

photographic works and light boxes that explore time and memory in the context of the pandemic and Melbourne’s extended

lockdown periods. Time Fell Asleep In The Evening Rain will open Saturday 12 March to Sunday 5 June 2022 at Linden

New Art.

Drawing on her personal experiences of 2020, she has

created hauntingly beautiful composite digital images that

seek to depict the slowing down of time, the repetition of

our daily lives and the increased space afforded to us

during lockdown to observe, think and feel.

The exhibition also includes an installation work that

separates out the many photographs that make up her

images, allowing visitors to see between and through

Tang’s layers. Each image is made up of at least one

hundred overlapping photographs, taken daily during

Melbourne’s lockdown in 2020.

“COVID-19 has changed my work practice and my social life… Walking alone outside has become my new routine. I

observed the landscape and started to take photos that caught into my eyes everyday. The composite layers of imagery

are like ghostly veils, or fogs, but at that one point they converge on a detail that condenses and vibrates, as if it might

confirm a moment of real existence. It is something to hang on to so that I won’t forget this strange experience once the

pandemic is over.” said Tang.

Born in Hong Kong, Cyrus (Wai-kuen) Tang moved to Australia in 2003, and is now based in Melbourne. Tang finished her

Degree (Hons) of Fine Arts at Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne, 2004; and her Master of Fine Arts (Research) at

Monash University, Melbourne, 2009. Tang has completed residency’s in various programmes, including Helsinki

International Artist Program 2013; The National Art Studio in South Korea 2012; and Cite International de Arts, Paris 2009.

Tang’s work has been showcased in Australia, Iceland, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, France, Canada, Sweden, and

China.

Time Fell Asleep in the Evening Rain explores the deep feelings and surfaced emotions felt during the pandemic. The

exhibition offers a visual homage to both the individual and collective slowing of time and pace as a result of lockdowns.

This exhibition is presented as part of PHOTO2022.

Let’s dance and get the good vibes flowing

 

L2R Dance presents Block Party uniting Melbourne’s electric hip-hop culture on Saturday, 12 March 2022.

Block Party will showcase a range of roaring local dance crews across street and social dance styles, including Breakin’, Vogue, House, Hip Hop, Dance Hall, Popping and Locking.

On grassy green lawns of Footscray Community Arts, friends and families can enjoy a BBQ lunch (even with vegan sausages) or order up at the food trucks while being entertained by the hip hop jams and battles as well as DJs and live-music featuring POOKIE, Bilalli and Urlik.

Jacinda Richards, L2R Dance founder, CEO and Artistic Director, welcomes everyone to Block Party, “Dance is an empowering exchange – it breaks down social barriers, embraces meaningful connections and brings us all together.”

“We want to show how dance plays an important role in the lives of our young dancers including our current Igniting Legends who are passionate leaders committed within their cultural communities,” said Richards.

Over the past year, L2R Dance offered a 12-month paid internship to build the artistic skills and career pathways for three emerging artists as part of the Igniting Legends program, including Yolande Arinda, Urlik Mageza and Stephanie Dixon.

Efren Pamilacan, L2R Dance’s Youth Arts Coordinator, facilitates the Igniting Legends program and says “Our emerging artists have partnered with mentors across Australia and attended festivals such as Yirramboi, NGV Triennial and City Sessions.”

Yolande Arinda is 19 years old, was born in Uganda and moved to Australia in 2015. Following the Igniting Legends program, she will work at L2R Dance as artist liaison for street dance events while completing her Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University.

Urlik Mageza is 19 years old and an actor, model, dancer and singer from Uganda. At Block Party he will perform some of his songs from his first music EP, which will be released later this year.

Stephanie Dixon is 19 years old and Australian born with Thai heritage. She is the first L2R Dance emerging artist to pursue dance in higher education and is currently studying at the University of Melbourne under a VCA scholarship.

Responding to young people’s ideas, needs and concerns, L2R Dance facilitates commercial opportunities for emerging artists and also offers a range of free weekly hip hop dance workshops for young people in Melbourne’s West and beyond.

Arlen talks to the Sunday Arts Magazine team about Lavandaze.

In this original musical to be staged at the Gasworks in Melbourne, Jane Austen’sSense & Sensibility is brought to life with a fresh perspective. Director Sharmini Kumar has breathed new life into this classic piece of literature examining this period drama with a post-colonial and queer lens and bringing nuance and depth to characters through her original book and music which allow audiences to share in their innermost thoughts. This reimagined story still has pivotal moments from the original novel but has some added narrative and original music aimed to make you think. It explores themes such as the impacts of British colonialism and the experiences of existing as an outsider. The show opens a pandora’s box of moral dilemmas about society, so if you come for the bonnets, you might get more than you bargained for!

The show will appeal to lovers of musicals, Jane Austen and Bridgerton! Period drama is definitely on trend right now so we are hoping for a great response!