Curated by Melinda Young

ATTA Gallery, Thailand

15 May - 13 July 2025

Curatorial text: The Poetics of Place brings together the work of 16 makers across contemporary jewellery, object-based and textile practices whose work explores, expands and troubles the concept of ‘place’ in post-colonial Australia and Aotearoa. The work engages with literal and (sub)liminal geographies via the intimate relationality of the body. The artists have nuanced, poetic making practices, taking the body as a compass to navigate autobiographical and community narratives, interrogate materiality and technique, and examine the broader considerations of cultural, environmental and historical tensions experienced by settler makers on un-ceded lands.

The exhibition features the work of: Roseanne Bartley, Zoe Brand, Sue Buchanan, Anna Davern, Melissa Cameron, Cara Johnson, Claire McArdle, Kelly McDonald, Lindy McSwan, Nellie Peoples, Lauren Simeoni, Gabbee Stolp, Bic Tieu, Zoë Veness, Sera Waters & Melinda Young.

———

Dusk pendants I-IV, sterling silver, 9ct gold, silver solders, cord

Dawn pendants I-V, vitreous enamel on copper, cord

Inspired by photographs taken during my journeys to and from Gadigal/Sydney, I explore the notion of place as evocations of movement and time. Despite traversing this route for many years, which involves car and train travel as well as walking, my observations and understanding of the landscape continually evolve with each round trip. Two approaches are employed to create the work. A series of sterling silver pieces made by rolling laminated metal until paper thin examines the idea of paths worn and compressed over time. In these slivers of terrain the solder seeps like moss growing between pavers. And a series of vitreous enamel pieces translate photos of the landscape at first light. Both series signify contrasting encounters of materiality, light and space. Celestial vistas of pinks and blues compared to earthly views of dirt and dust.