Damien Shen
Damien Shen draws from his Ngarringeri and Chinese heritage making powerful images that reflect the complexities of race and identity in Australia. He’s “interested in the Coorong region, work that relates to the stories my family has about their early memories of growing up on the Raukkan mission in the early 50s”. An accomplished story-teller, he will work with Mt Gambier artists, producing tintypes through a travelling interactive project involving local communities.
Profile image: Brent Leideritz
NEW EXHIBITION FORMAT SHOWCASES THE WORK OF LEADING VISUAL ARTISTS
Media Release / 08 October 2018
THE PARTNERSHIPPING PROJECT is a national touring programme featuring the work of twenty regionally-based visual artists, centred around the question, “as on-line experiences take up more time in our lives, do our relationships to place still matter?” Artist Gail Mabo writes:
“Place matters. Place is where you feel comfortable – where you feel at home and where you belong.”
The exhibition will tour from:
Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Tasmania; opens November 9, 2018 (featuring the work of Jamin, Selena de Carvalho; Ritchie Ares Doña; David Mangenner Gough; Greg Lehman; Lisa Garland; Greg Leong; Joan Kelly) and will travel to
Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts, Townsville, Queensland; opens March 2019 (featuring the work of Gail Mabo; Obery Sambo; Vanghoua Anthony Vue; Rob Douma; Anne Lord; Brian Robinson); then to
Lismore Regional Gallery, New South Wales; opens December, 2019 (featuring the work of Hiromi Tango; Penny Evans; Dadang Christanto; Karla Dickens), and then will move to
Riddoch Art Gallery, Mt.Gambier, South Australia; opens February, 2020. (featuring the work of Lu Forsberg and Damien Shen); returning to Burnie Regional Art Gallery for the final exhibition in October to December, 2020.
The artists’ work will be installed in eight hand-made wooden boats and the entire exhibition will travel up the east coast of Australia and back in a shipping container. Each artist is producing exciting new work drawing from their own lives; their own places; their ideas, hopes, dreams, fears and passions. Artist Rob Douma writes:
“Ultimately I am drawn to make the kind of art that makes people think – art that works as an agent of change. I’d love to make art that makes positive change; art that challenges...”
The artists come from a broad range of cultural backgrounds and experiences and their works challenge stereotypes about what living in the regions of Australia might mean. They draw from their global experiences to make changes in their local communities, and offer new insights. Brian Robinson writes:
“I guess I’m pretty much just telling my own story – of my own time.”
The project involves the touring exhibition; exhibition programme; a compendium of artists’ personal stories; forum programmes; artists’ workshops; community collaborations; school extension programmes; website; blog; commissioned essays and unique records of each artist’s process of making their work.